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THE WORK OF ST. OPTATUS
AGAINST THE DONATISTS

THE

WORK OF ST. OPTATUS

BISHOP OF MILEVIS

AGAINST THE DONATISTS

WITH APPENDIX

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH O "T

WITH NOTES CRITICAL, EXPLANATORY,

THEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ' j O

BY THE n

REV. O. R. VASSALL-PHILLIPS, B.A.

BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD
PRIEST Or THE CONGREGATION OF THE MOST HOLY REDEEMER

1 Legant qui volunt quae narret et quibus documents quam
multa persuadeat Venerabilis Memoriae Milevitanus Episcapus
Catholicae Communionis Optatus.'— S. AUGUSTINUS.

COIL CHW3TI
SIB, MAJ,
TOHONTON

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK

BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS

1917

All rigbtt reserved

•*n

PERMISSU SUPERIORUM CONG. SS. RED.

NlHIL OBSTAT

TH. BERGH, O.S.B.,

Censor Deputatus.

IMPRIMATUR

E. CAN. SCRMONT,

Vic. Gen.

Ait 15 Feb., 1915.

PREFACE

ST. OPTATUS, Bishop of Milevis in Africa, is perhaps
the least known of all the Fathers of the Church. His
treatise against the Donatists — the one work that he
left to posterity, was translated into French in I564-1
It is extremely improbable that, but for this exception,
it has, until now, ever appeared in any language save
Latin. It is quite certain that it has never yet been
clothed in an English dress. There is indeed an
advertisement still to be seen in The Oxford Library of
the Fathers, in which it was announced (in 1848) that a
translation of St. Optatus into English would ' soon '
appear. Sixty-eight years have elapsed ; but this
intention has not yet been carried into execution.

Until recently St. Optatus could hardly be found,
even in the original Latin, anywhere but in the
edition published by Du Pin at Antwerp in 1702, and
subsequently incorporated by Migne. His work was
until 1870 out of the reach of all persons who had not
access to the largest libraries. In 1870 — it is true —
Fr. Hurter, S.J., published Du Pin's text in convenient
form with short notes,2 and in 1893 a new critical

1 Cf. Migne, P.L. xi, p. 883. I have not been able to consult
this French version.

2 Sanctorum Patrum Opuscula selecta. Oeniponti,

vi ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

edition was brought out (edited by the late Professor
Ziwsa) in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum, which
has now for many years been in course of publication
at Vienna. Comparatively few people, however, have
heard of this excellent edition of the Latin Fathers ;
still fewer are aware that its volumes may be purchased
separately, and that for the sum of a few shillings
they may possess themselves of ' the Seven Books of
St. Optatus concerning the Schism of the Donatists,
against Parmenian.'

Indeed it is not too much to say that the very
name of Optatus is barely known even to many students
of theology and ecclesiastical history. Yet his is no
mean name, and he cannot be ignored with safety,
for he has bequeathed to the Church material of no
small value, both to the theologian and the eccle
siastical historian. Optatus was held in high repute
by the great Augustine, upon whom his influence was
undoubtedly considerable. To this Harnack bears
witness : ' Even when he entered into the Donatist
controversy, Augustine did so as a man of the second
or indeed the third generation. He therefore enjoyed
the great advantage of having at his disposal a fund of
conceptions and ideas already collected . In this sphere
Optatus especially had worked before him/ *

The work of St. Optatus is, therefore, of consequence
not only from the point of view of history— he is the
historian of Donatism in its origins — but also from that
of doctrine — of ' conceptions and ideas.' It derives
special importance from the fact that here we find the

1 History of Dogma, v. 38.

PREFACE vii

first sustained argument from the Catholic side not
merely against heresy (false doctrine) but also against
schism (separation from the Church).

Heresies come and go. They are essentially ephe
meral, according to some transitory fashion of mental
speculation. And in fact history proves that the limit
of their duration is hardly known to last four centuries.
Often indeed they pass into all but complete oblivion.
Thus it comes about that a long and sometimes weary
discussion concerning a heresy which has perhaps long
since vanished from the midst of men is apt to lose
much of its actuality.1 But the Church dies not, and
in every age excuses are found by the rebellious for
their rebellion against her supreme authority. The
argument against heresy is necessarily specialised and
multiform ; the argument against schism is very
simple and admits of no substantial variation in its
presentment.

Consequently, it never ceases to be of deep interest
to follow the reasoning that has been employed by the
champions of the Catholic Church, at any period of her
history, on behalf of her exclusive and peremptory
claim upon the spiritual allegiance of mankind. When
ever this is in discussion, there is no drowsy stirring
of dead bones, but an issue which is ever-living and
therefore in a certain sense ever-new. Now, upon this
subject Optatus is perfectly explicit. Again and again
he lays it down that there is but one true Church of
Christ,2 that she is not merely local, but is scattered

1 Cf. Optatus, i, 9. a id. i, 7 ; i, 10 ; ii, i ; iv, 6 etc.

viii ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

all over the world,1 her chief rulers bound together
by formal bonds and proofs of union, each with his
fellow,2 and above all with the Bishop of Rome, Peter's
successor.3

In other words for Opt at us the one question of
paramount importance is : ' Which and where is the
One Church ? ' 4 And to this question his answer is
clear-cut and unmistakable in its import. The Church
of Christ may be easily recognised by all those who
will look for her marks. She and she alone is One ;
she and she alone is truly Catholic. In fact this is
her name — Catholica.5 She alone is Apostolic — Apos
tolic for this reason, that all over the world (' ubique ')
her children are in communion with the Cathedra
Petri* the See of that Apostle to whom alone the
Lord promised the keys of the kingdom of Heaven 7-
the See ' against which to contend is sacrilege.'8

And because Parmenian, his Donatist adversary,
had failed to recognise ' where is the Church ? ' he is
said by Optatus to have ' made confusion of every
thing.'9

The clearness and decisiveness of the teaching
of St. Optatus on the Church have caused Harnack
to write thus : ' In this thought (of the Church as an
institution) Catholicism was first complete . . . But
Augustine was not the first to declare it ; he rather

1 Optatus, i, 26 ; ii, i ; iii, 2 etc. etc.

z id. i, 4 ; ii, 3 ; vii, 6. 3 id. ii, 2 ; ii, 3 ; vii, 5,

* Cf. quae, vel ubi, sit Una Ecclesia (i, 7).

6 id. i, 5 ; ii, i etc. 6 id. ii, 9 (cf. ii, 6 etc.).

7 id. i, 10 ; i, 12 ; ii, 4 ; vii, 3 etc. * id. ii, 5.

* sic omnia miscui ti (i, 10).

PREFACE ix

received it from tradition. The first representative
of the new conception known to us, and Augustine
also knew him, was Optatus.' 1

It is hardly necessary to observe that this ' con
ception ' was never really ' new ' in Christendom.
Optatus did not invent it. He had ' received it ' (in the
same way that before him in Africa Cyprian had already
'received it/ and, as Harnack admits, Augustine
' received it) from tradition/ He ' received it ' also
from the express words of Christ and from the pro
phecies of the Old Testament.2 It is, however, per
fectly true to say that St. Optatus is the first writer
known to us who sets out in detail the Catholic con
ception of the one true Church of Christ. The oppor
tunity came to him only with the Donatist schism.
It will always be the great merit of Optatus to have
seized that opportunity and to have availed himself
of it to such an extent, that Augustine had but to
broaden it out and illustrate it with his matchless
genius. St. Augustine had only to fill in the picture
which St. Optatus had already drawn in clear out
line. To the end of time the Catholic theologian,
preacher or controversialist, desirous of showing the
true nature of the Church, and the obligation (binding
everywhere, always, upon all persons, and under all
conceivable circumstances) of living within her visib e
unity, will find everything that he needs ready to his
hand, in the writings of St. Optatus. Moreover,
Optatus will remind us that from this obligation—

1 History of Dogma, vol. v. p. 42.

2 Optatus, ii, i ; ii, 5 ; iv, 6 etc. etc.

a 3

x ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

strict though it be in itself — ignorance (that ignorance
which we now call ' invincible ') will excuse its victims.1
Ignorance could not be pleaded by Parmenian ; it
was therefore impossible to hold him guiltless. But
Optatus was evidently aware that in his day in Africa
(as in our day in England) there were Christians who,
through no fault of their own, knew nothing of the
claims of the Chair of Peter.

Apart from the constitution and marks of the
Church, there is only one specific doctrine — that
Baptism may not lawfully be repeated after it has once
been validly administered (the Credo unum Baptisma
of the Creed) — with which St. Optatus was directly
concerned in his controversy with his Donatist adver
saries. His statements as to other Truths of Faith
(denied in later ages) are only by the way, and are
generally incidental to the course of his historical
narrative. This, it seems important to observe, gives
them an even greater polemical value than would
have been theirs had Optatus written controversially
on these subjects, and been contradicted by Donatists
or any other Christians then living. But this is far
from being the case. For example, St. Optatus
is able to write to his opponent : ' Bene revocasti
Claves ad Petrum.' 2 Similarity, with regard to all
the other Catholic doctrines to which he makes refer
ence throughout his work, it is quite clear that he and
Parmenian are standing on common ground, and were
perfectly agreed.

When then we reflect that St. Optatus wrote in

1 Optatus, ii, 2. * id. i, 12.

PREFACE xi

the century preceding the Councils of Ephesus and
Chalcedon, in the very heart of what are sometimes
known as ' Primitive Times/ when we remember
that he was anterior to Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome
and Leo the Great, when we recall the fact that the
Reformation in Germany and England does not yet
go back four hundred years, but that Optatus wrote
six centuries before the Norman set foot on our English
soil, and that some thousand years and then two
hundred more were to elapse between the writings
of Optatus and the breach with Rome over King
Henry's divorce, it is a most striking and moving
fact that this old Father of the Church bears his
express and unequivocal witness not only to the
necessity of union with the Cathedra Petri, but also to
most of those Catholic Doctrines so violently assailed
in the days of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Cranmer,
Knox and their associates, and still denied on all sides
around us.

For example, St. Optatus affirms explicitly the
truth of Baptismal Regeneration1; again and again
makes reference to the Sacrifice of the Altar 2 ; states the
doctrine of the Real Presence in words that are incapable
of any misunderstanding 3 ; insists on the sacred-
ness of the Holy Chrism 4 ; writes of the adornment
of altars for the offering of the Sacrifice 5 ; refers to the
ceremony of Exorcism before Baptism 6 ; appeals to
deutero-canonical Books as to authentic Scripture 7 ;

1 Optatus, v, i etc. 2 id. i, 19 ; ii, 4 ; ii, 12 ; iii, 4 etc.

1 id. ii, 19 ; vi, i. 4 id. ii, 25 ; iii, 4 ; vii, 4 etc.

6 id. iii, 12. • id. iv, 6.

7 id. ii, 25 iv, 8. (Cf. Pseudo -Optatus B.)

xii ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

takes the continuance of Miracles in the Church for
granted *• ; and is quite express in his references to
cloistered Virginity and the difference between the
Commandments of God and Counsels of Perfection.2
Sometimes indeed he is so modern in his expressions
(or at least his words are so directly applicable to our
modern circumstances) that when we first read them
we rub our eyes and ask ourselves ' Can it be a
Catholic writer of the fourth century, whom we are
reading, not one of the twentieth ? ' Instances of
this may be found in the famous description of the
origin of the Donatist schism,3 which, as Cardinal
Wiseman has pointed out,4 can be paralleled with
startling exactness by the schism under Henry;
or again in such isolated expressions as ' Cathedra
ducit ad se Angelum,' which is all that we need should
it be urged that it is safe to remain in Anglicanism,
because of the (supposed) validity of Anglican Orders.
If these Orders were ever so valid, they could not be
more valid than were those of the Donatist s ; but St.
Optatus teaches us that, by themselves, valid Orders
are of no avail. It is useless to have a Bishop (Angelus)
who is out of communion with that One Chair of Peter,
of which Optatus is at the time writing. Orders he
may have, still he remains visibly in schism. Cathedra
ducit ad se Angelum.5 Or, similarly, ' Per Cathedram
Petri, quae nostra est, per ipsam et ceteras dotes

i Optatus, ii, 19. 2 id. vi, 4. 3 id. i, 19-

* In the Article entitled Anglican Claim for Apostolical Succession
first published in-the Dublin Review for August 1839, and republished
by the Catholic Truth Society, with a Preface by the late Dr.
Rivington. * Optatus, ii, 6.

PREFACE xiii

apud nos esse probatum est.' l It is through the
Chair of Peter— through our Union with that Chair
which itself ' is ours/ that we derive and can prove our
security as to the other Endowments of the Church,
amongst which is reckoned lawful Episcopacy. Or,
again, in discussion with any Protestant, what need
we say more than those three words of St. Optatus —
' Catholica prior est ' 2 ? Before any Protestant body
had its birth, before Luther's turbulent spirit began
to trouble the peace of Christendom, before the eccle
siastical Provinces of Canterbury and York were torn
away by the State from their union with the Apostolic
See, before the ambition of Photius separated Byzan
tium from the elder Rome, before Donatism arose,
there was the Catholic Church and the Chair of Peter.
Catholica prior est.

It is beyond doubt that, as Vincent of Lerins
taught in the fifth century, and as Catholic theologians
have since taught in every age, there must be a certain
development of doctrine in the Church — that is to
say, an ' explication ' or unfolding, more and more
explicit as the years pass on, of that which has always
been implicit in the Deposit of the Faith delivered
in the beginning to the Saints ; for, where there is
life, there must also be growth. Yet, whilst studying
St. Optatus I have asked myself whether since his
day there has been room for any real development.
Whatever development of doctrine may have been neces
sary, at least with regard to the doctrines concerning
the Holy See and the Eucharist, seems to me, as I read

1 Optatus, ii, 9. z id. vii, 5.

xiv ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Optatus, to have already taken place and to be generally
well known and accepted throughout the Church.

The work, then, of St. Optatus derives its great
doctrinal importance from its unambiguous teaching,
principally indeed as to the marks of the Church, but
also concerning other revealed truths, unhappily
denied in modern times by great bodies of Christians
separated from the Catholic Unity.

There are two subjects, the treatment of which
by St. Optatus will probably jar upon the sensibilities
of most, if not all, modern readers : the first is religious
persecution, and the second the application of certain
passages in the Old Testament, in minute and even
verbal detail, to the controversies of his day.

With regard to persecution, the Donatists con
tinually upbraided the Catholics with the punish
ments inflicted upon their fathers by Macarius and
Leontius and other officers sent by the Emperors
to secure religious unity. Now, the reply of St. Optatus
up to a point is curiously similar to that which we
make to-day when we are reminded of what happened
in England under Mary Tudor. St. Optatus urged
in the first place that these punishments had been
greatly exaggerated (just as we say when confronted
with Foxe's ' Book of Martyrs '). In the second place
he pointed out (as we do) that those who were punished
were for the most part turbulent conspirators against
the public security, and that their treatment of
Catholics had been infinitely worse than any reprisals
to which it may have led. Thirdly he laid stress

PREFACE xv

upon the fact (and here again we take precisely the
same ground) that whatever happened came to pass
by the authority of the State, and not by that of the
Church, and that the Church was in no way responsible.
If he had stopped here, all would have been well,
but unfortunately St. Opt atus went further, and argued
that ' perchance ' the sufferings of the Donatists
were ' by the will of God/ and endeavoured to justify
them by several parallels from the Old Testament.
This is, it seems to us, exceedingly regrettable, but
we must remember that to Opt at us, it was an axiom,
and as such seemed a truism which no man would
or could dispute, that it was the duty of a Christian
State to secure the observance of the true religion, and
to punish not only offences against society, but also
those against Almighty God. The modern distinction,
so clear to us, between ' crime ' and ' sin ' was utterly
unknown to him, and no doubt, if it had been stated
in his hearing, would have seemed to him — at least in
the case of a Christian State — utterly immoral and
involving the gravest dereliction of duty on the part
of a Christian ruler. We know from his own letters
that it so appeared to Constantine.1 When this fact
is grasped, it will be more easy to understand a point
of view, which is inapplicable to any set of circum
stances that can be imagined as arising in modern
times. All that can be said fairly on this subject,
even by those who think St. Optatus most mistaken
and wrong, is that unfortunately he was not ahead
of his age.

1 Cf, Appendix, pp. 398, 400, 406.

xvi ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

But it is not only with reference to the punishment
of schismatics that the appeal of St. Optatus to the
Old Testament will strike us as strange and sometimes
even perverse. Again and again, when arguing against
some Donatist custom or personage, he quotes a
passage from Ezekiel, or Daniel, or Isaiah, as though
Donatus the Great or the sacrileges of his followers
had been before the mind of the Hebrew Prophet.
This to us (at least to me) — however ingenious it
may sometimes be — is tiresome and irritating in the
extreme. But we must remember that of course St.
Optatus did not think or mean anything of the kind.
What he did mean was that Almighty God, when
inspiring His Prophet, intended that Prophet's words
to be applied (amongst other ways) to the case of the
Donatist s. All the Fathers of the time (indeed all
Christians) held a theory of verbal dictation of the
inspired writings, which has never been taught offi
cially by the Church and has long been practically
unknown amongst Catholics. Moreover, in the fourth
and fifth centuries it was generally believed that Holy
Scripture had many senses in addition to the literal
or first sense. Consequently all ecclesiastical writers
during those centuries used the text of Scripture
from time to time in a way that will inevitably seem
to us to be most far-fetched and unreal. But if this
treatment of the Bible so appears to us, it would not
have thus appeared to the contemporaries of Optatus.
Indeed it is highly probable that many Donatists
were much impressed and even converted by his appeal
against them couched in the very words of some great

PREFACE xvii

Hebrew Prophet. And if St. Optatus is sometimes
insulting to the Donatists in his application of Holy
Scripture, it is clear that often — this is certainly true
of the muscae moriturae in Book VII and of all the pas
sages dealt with in Book IV — he is merely retorting
arguments that had been used against Catholics by
Parmenian or other Donatists. Evidently, it did
not seem to him safe to leave those arguments, so
far as they consisted of quotations from Scripture,
to answer themselves, and St. Optatus knew, as we
cannot possibly know, the mentality of those men of
his own day, for whose sake he was writing his work.

However, such an exegesis of Scripture is so alien
to our habits of thought that it may draw the attention
of the reader away from the real and great excellences
of Optatus to a sense of mere annoyance at what will
seem to be now and again his perversity of interpre
tation. (In fairness it should be said that, so far as this
is true of Optatus, it is true also often of St. Ambrose
and sometimes even of St. Augustine.) In my anxiety
that there should be nothing to hinder the study of
the really important and interesting parts of the work
of St. Optatus, I thought for a moment of excluding
his applications of the Old Testament to the circum
stances of the Donatist schism. But a very little con
sideration made me see that such a course was out of
the question, and that if I translated St. Optatus at all
I must translate every word, so that it would be im
possible for anyone to think that Optatus had been
bowdlerised or mutilated at my hands. He is great
enough to be read in his entirety and reckoned with as

xviii ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

a whole. The reader may be certain that I have trans
lated — for him to read, if he likes — everything without
exception as it stands in the Seven Books of Optatus*
as he submitted them to the judgement of his own time.

St. Opt at us can often be usefully illustrated from
St. Cyprian and St. Augustine ; occasionally from St.
Jerome and Tertullian. I am aware that I have laid
myself open to criticism by sometimes supplying
references to the writings of these Fathers in their
original ; sometimes in a translation. I can but
explain that considerations of space made it impossible
to give them both in Latin and English. It only
remained to do what seemed to me the more useful
in each case. Sometimes I thought it safer to sacrifice
the vernacular for the sake of giving the exact words
of my authority (after all my footnotes are hardly
likely to be read by many persons without a knowledge
of Latin) ; sometimes, however, I felt it important
to give the quotation in a form which all can under
stand. I can only plead that I have exercised my
judgement to the best of my ability, and have always
translated with faithfulness.

I much wished to present the Latin text. But
that could not have been done without doubling the
size and expense of my book. I have, however, always
given the Latin in a note in three cases : (i) when any
controversial point was involved, (2) when there was
any doubt lingering in my mind as to the exact meaning
of my author, (3) when I thought that my English
version was somewhat free.

St. Optatus is by no means easy to translate. His

PREFACE xix

sentences are often very long and involved. Not seldom
he loses his thread and anacolutha are frequent. Often
too he is very crabbed and obscure. I have been most
anxious, and I hope careful, to observe the two golden
rules of faithful translation : firstly, to put no idea in
the rendering which is not clearly in the text, and
secondly to express every thought and phrase of the
author in words that are as nearly as one can make
them the equivalent of his own. To secure these two
points I have never hesitated, when necessary, to
sacrifice idiomatic English to literalness in translation.
Few things are more exasperating than is a French
paraphrase, which so often is as misleading with regard
to the exact sense of its supposed original, as it is
charming in its own beauty and delicacy of expression.
The style of Optatus is often majestic, always full
of force and vigour, and sometimes rises to heights
of real eloquence. There is one peculiarity of the
African Latin of the time which, until we are accus
tomed to it, creates a difficulty and therefore perhaps
here requires a word of notice. It is not too much to
say that Optatus had no idea of the sequence of tenses
observed by the classical authors, or even of any
distinction in meaning between the imperfect and
pluperfect subjunctive. This is often noticeable in
St. Augustine, but even more so in St. Optatus.
Optatus uses these tenses quite indifferently and often
linked together in the same sentence, without any
reference to the question of time. On the other hand,
his Latin is often most musical ; he had a very sensitive
ear for rhythm and euphony (it is often a delight to

xx ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

read aloud his sonorous sentences for the very joy of
listening to their sound), and accordingly he will use
the pluperfect subjunctive where we should expect the
imperfect, merely because of the cadence. If pro-
posuisset will finish a sentence more imposingly and
rhythmically than proponeret, proposuisset will in
evitably fall from his pen. Our only guide, as to
whether it should be translated ' he would propose '
or ' he would have proposed/ is the sense of the
context. As soon as we have become at all conversant
with the writings of St. Optatus we shall be accustomed
to this peculiarity, and it ceases to trouble us. It might
well be otherwise with anyone who has never read the
original. He would naturally be much surprised to
see a Latin imperfect given in a note, but translated
in the text by an English verb in the pluperfect, or
vice versa. For this reason I have thought it well
to give this explanation in advance.

It remains to say a few words about Jthe occasion
of this treatise and its date ; we must also state what
is known of Optatus and of Parmenian, the Donatist,
to whom these Books are addressed.

St. Optatus himself tells us the origin of his work.1
As the Donatists at the time refused a conference or
public discussion with Catholics, it seemed desirable
to answer them in writing. Accordingly Optatus
determined to reply to a book which had recently
appeared, written by a certain Parmenian. This Par
menian, about the year 350, had become the Donatist

1 Optatus. i, 4.

PREFACE xxi

Bishop of Carthage, in succession to Donatus, the
successor of Majorinus, who had commenced all the
trouble by allowing himself to be intruded into the
See already occupied by Caecilian, the lawful Catholic
Bishop. So we find Optatus writing to Parmenian
of Majorinus as his avus, and reproaching him with
sitting in the ' Cathedra Pestilential ' on which Majorinus
was the first to sit.1 Optatus tells us that Parmenian
was not an African, but a stranger to Carthage.2
Besides the book against the Catholic Church which St.
Optatus here answers, Parmenian wrote another against
a fellow-Donatist named Tichorinus, which was, in its
turn, answered by St. Augustine. Of these two works
of Parmenian, Du Pin writes in his Preface : ' Diversa
utriusque operis divisio, diversus methodus, diversum
argumentum, quamquam eadem utrobique in Ecclesiam
Catholicam convitia legerentur.'

We are able to gather the date of the work of St.
Optatus from internal evidence. St. Optatus himself
tells us 3 that when he wrote his book more than sixty
years had elapsed since the storms of persecution
burst over all Africa. Now, the persecution of Diocle
tian (which without doubt is here referred to) began
early in 303 and ceased in the East in 305. Again,
whilst St. Optatus terms Photinus ' a heretic of this
present time,' 4 St. Jerome tells us that Photinus died
in the year 376. Putting these two dates — that of the
cessation of the Diocletian persecution and the death of
Photinus — together, and bearing the words of Optatus
concerning them in mind, we gather that he wrote

1 Optatus, i, 10. * i, 5. » i, 13. * iv, 5.

xxii ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

after 365 and before 376. But we can narrow it still
further, for St. Jerome also tells us that Optatus
wrote when Valentinian and Valens were Emperors.
Valentinian was elected Emperor in 372, and died
in 375. Between these years therefore St. Optatus
published the first edition of his work. I say the
first edition, for the following considerations seem to
make it certain that he subsequently brought out
his work anew with considerable additions, directed
against the cavils with which the Donatists had met
its publication.1 In the list of Popes 2 we now find
the name of Siricius given after that of Damasus.
But Siricius was not raised to the Supreme Pontificate
until 384, some years after the death of both Valenti
nian and Valens. It is, therefore, quite certain that
Optatus could not possibly have written in the life
time of these Emperors, that ' together with the whole
Catholic world ' he was then ' united with Siricius in the
bonds of communion.' 3 Moreover, Optatus gives us
not only a list of the Popes from St. Peter, but also a
list of the Donatist anti-Popes from Victor Garbensis
(the first of the series) to Macrobius.4 Of this Macro-
bius he writes as of one still living, and calls him the
socius of Parmenian. Later on, however, in the same
chapter Optatus gives the names of two obscure anti-
Popes, Lucianus and Claudianus (otherwise unknown
to history), who had succeeded Macrobius in the
Donatist line. These names, like that of Pope Siricius,
must necessarily have been added after the work had

1 Cf. vii, i, and my Introduction to Book vii.
5 Optatus, ii, 3. 3 ii, 4. * ii, 4-

PREFACE xxiii

been finished and first given to the world. We may,
therefore, safely conclude that Optatus wrote his Six
Books against Parmenian about the year 373, when
Valentinian and Valens were Emperors, during the
Pontificate of Damasus. But he lived on until the
time when Siricius was Pope and Theodosius Emperor,
and then brought out a new edition of his work up to
date, and no doubt added in some shape or other the
chapters which now constitute his Seventh Book.1

Concerning the life of St. Optatus hardly anything
is known, but he has always been held in honour in
the Church by reason of the tradition concerning the
sanctity of his life, as well as the vigour and learning
with which he defended the Faith. Thus St. Fulgentius
joins his name with those of Augustine and Ambrose,
and writes as follows : ' Sive quod Sanctus Ambrosius,
sive quod Sanctus Augustinus, sive quod Sanctus
Optatus senserunt a nobis quoque salva veritate
fidei sentiatur.'2 St. Augustine too joins together
St. Ambrose and St. Optatus as authorities, writing,
' doctrinam quam commendavit Milevitanus Optatus
vel Mediolanensis Ambrosius.' 3 In another place
St. Augustine appeals to St. Optatus as the great
authority for the history of the Donatist schism, and
describes him as 'Venerabilis memoriae Milevitanus
Episcopus Catholicae Communionis Optatus.' 4 Con
cerning the accuracy of St. Optatus as an historian
there has never been any more doubt than as to his
orthodoxy and learning as a theologian. His work was,

1 See Introduction to Book vii. 2 Ad Monimuni ii, 13.

* De Unitate Ecclesiae xix, 50. 4 Con. Ep. Parm. i, 13.

xxiv ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

as he himself tells us and St. Augustine bears witness,1
richly documented and was never controverted on
any side. Indeed there is an amusing story given by
St. Augustine and still to be found in the Gesta Col-
lationis Carthaginensis as to how the Donatist Bishops
appealed to his authority concerning Const ant ine's
refusal to allow Caecilian to return immediately to
his See, and the way in which the laugh was turned
against them when the whole passage was read aloud.2

We know from St. Jerome that Optatus was an
African by birth,3 and from St. Augustine that he was
a convert to the Faith. Augustine's beautiful words
on this subject may well be quoted ; they seem to lose
the fragrant delicacy of their aroma if any attempt
be made to translate them : ' Nonne aspicimus
quanto auro et argento et veste sussarcinatus exierit
de Aegypto Cyprianus Doctor suavissimus et Martyr
beatissimus ; quanto Lactantius, quanto Victorinus,
Optatus, Hilarius, ut de vivis taceam ! ' 4

Here the names of Optatus, Lactantius and Cyprian
are brought together — three great African converts—
by a fourth, Augustine, the greatest of them all.
And if, as is undoubted, Augustine, himself ' rich
with the spoils of the Egyptians,' owed much also to
Optatus, Optatus owed even more to Cyprian. We
see the influence of St. Cyprian throughout the writings
of Optatus, though, like Augustine after him, Optatus

1 Con. Ep. Farm, i, 13.

2 In Breviculo Collationis xx, 38 (cf. Migne Capitula Collationis
Carthaginensis diei tertiae, 375, 477 et seq. usque ad 539, et Epistola
Concilii Zertensis apud S. Augustinum cxli, 9),

8 De Doctrina Christiana, Lib. II. xl, 61. 4 Ib.

PREFACE

XXV

did not fear to desert Cyprian, where (as in the question
of the re-baptism of heretics) Cyprian was wrong.

To overestimate the influence of Cyprian on the
Church in Africa in the fourth century is hardly possible.
By his sanctity, by his learning, above all by his
heroic martyrdom, Cyprian had won for himself a
position which was unique in the veneration and
affection of the Faithful. For this reason the works
of St. Cyprian were continually appealed to by the
Donatists. Petilian quoted them against St. Augustine,
as in the days of Optatus they had already been
quoted by Parmenian.

The Canon of Scripture was fixed by Pope St.
Damasus whilst St. Optatus was very likely still alive,
and (whatever we may think of the use that Optatus
sometimes made of the sacred text) there is no doubt
of the veneration in which he held the inspired writings.
On occasion, we must admit, he quoted them with
inaccuracy ; from which it follows that he must have
quoted by heart. But he (or rather a writer who
lived not many years later) tells us that the MSS.
were numerous in his time and ' in the hands of all.' 1
Optatus probably knew neither Greek nor Hebrew.
He employed a pre-Hieronymian version (African in
form, but less typically so than that used by St.
Cyprian), to the very words of which (even in the

1 ' Librorum milia ubique recitantur . . . bibliothecae refertae
suntlibris . . . manus omnium codicibus plenae sunt.' (See B, p. 305.)
Harnack (Bible Reading in the Early Church, p. 97, note i, English
translation) quotes these words as those of Optatus. I think, how
ever, that there can be no doubt that they are really pseudo-
Optatus, (See my Introduction to Book vii, p. 272.)

xxvi ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

translation) he seems to have ascribed inspiration.
But surely it is far better to honour the text of the
Written Word of God too much than too little, and in
this, as in so many other things, St. Optatus may,
if we will, be to us, in these days of Modernism, both
an example and an inspiration.

Nothing is known as to the exact date or place of
his death. Throughout Christendom there are mag
nificent temples raised to the honour of Ambrose,
Jerome and Augustine ; in memory of Cyprian there
is a famous Chapel in the Catacombs ; in no land —
so far as I have been able to discover — is there even
an altar raised to Heaven under the invocation of
Optatus of Mile vis. For him there is no public cultus
anywhere amongst the Faithful in the Church of God.
But he lives in 'his work — a monument of his zeal for the
Catholic Faith and for Catholic Unity. No Catholic,
having once read this book, and having therein entered
into the loyal, upright, devoted, strenuous, somewhat
impetuous spirit of its author — a Bishop who threw
himself whole-heartedly into the fight that he knew
to be necessary ; a formidable and on occasion hard-hit
ting champion of Religion ; a good shepherd who knew
not guile and hated schism, but loved the Peace which,
as he tells us, Christ bequeathed as a keepsake to
His children ; who loved the Unity of the Church which
alone can secure that Peace for those who will seek and
ensue it ; who loved the Chair of Peter and the safety
of his flock better far than he loved aught on earth
beside — but will recognise to the full the justice of
the simple words of the Roman Martyrology which

PREFACE xxvii

on the fourth of each recurring June commemorate

this single-minded servant of God,

Milevi in Numidia Sancti Optati Episcopi doctrina et

sanctitate conspicui.
1 He being dead yet speaketh.'

At least six manuscripts of St. Optatus are in
existence (all of them in a more or less incomplete
state), and were consulted by Ziwsa. We shall refer
to them as A, B, C, G, P, R, respectively.

A — Orleans, Bibliotheque de la ville, 169 (seventh

century — only a fragment).
B — Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 1712, formerly in

the Library of Baluze, 290 (fourteenth century).
C = Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 1711, formerly in

Colbert's Library (eleventh century).
G = Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, 13335, once in the

Library of St. Germain-des-Pres, 609 (1248),

(fifteenth century).
P = Petrograd, Imperial Public Library, Lat. 25 Q.v.

omd. I. 2 (fifth or sixth century).
R = Reims, Bibliotheque de la ville, 221 (olim 138)

(beginning of ninth century).
Of these manuscripts, P is the most ancient and
undoubtedly the most valuable. Unfortunately it is
extant for the first two Books only. For the other
Books R is the best authority. Ziwsa, however, seems
to think that some of the various readings in G may
represent changes made by St. Optatus himself in his
second edition ; from this point of view (late though

xxviii ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

it is) G becomes very important. A is too frag
mentary to be of much service ; it is extant for the
first two chapters of the Seventh Book only. To C
we owe all that remains of the Appendix ; unhappily
it commences in its present state only about the
middle of the Sixth Book. Ziwsa holds B in small
account, and Du Pin tells us that it is valde mendosus.

The Editio Princeps of Optatus was printed at Metz
in 1549 by Cochlaeus, a Canon of Warsaw. He dedi
cated his book to the Abbot of Tongerloo, in the hope
that in the splendid library of that renowned Abbey
some manuscript might be discovered, whereby his
text might be corrected, since he had at his disposal
only a MS. of the fifteenth century, full of faults, which
is known as Codex Cusanus. Ziwsa was unable to
examine it. Cochlaeus himself says of this Codex that
it was ' ex antiquo codice quopiam mendose ab indocto
librario scriptum et ab alio deinceps multo adhuc
mendosius rescriptum.' Poor material indeed upon
which to work ! The Editio Princeps of Optatus is
referred to as v.

Fourteen years later, in 1563, a new edition was
brought out by Francis Balduinus, who tells us that in
the edition of Cochlaeus there were more mistakes than
sentences, at which, under the circumstances, we can
hardly be surprised. Balduinus had a hitherto un
known MS., which was lent him by a Paris theologian,
at his disposal, but the text was still exceedingly
corrupt, until in the year 1569 he was able to produce
a much better edition, since by this time he had access
to two new MSS. neither of which is available to us.

PREFACE

XXIX

The second of these MSS., known as Codex Tilianus,
from the name of a Bishop of Meaux to whom it
belonged, contains the passages in Book VII. which
are now generally held to be spurious, and which
Balduinus was the first to print. He brought out yet
another edition in 1599. This third edition of Balduinus
possesses some valuable notes by its author, and is
quoted as b.

Three more editions were brought out in the next
century : the first, full of mistakes, prepared by Alba-
spinaeus, Bishop of Orleans, and published after his
death in 1631. This same year the Anglican scholar
Casaubon published in London an edition of Optatus,
but could only use b, as he was unable to consult
any manuscripts. This edition, therefore, abounds
in conjectural emendations, many of them highly
ingenious, which, apart from any intrinsic probability
that they may possess, receive importance from the
critical acumen and learning of their author.

Yet another edition was published by Priorius
in Paris, but it is of no value whatsoever. The text
is that of the first edition of Balduinus.

We now come to the great work of Du Pin, the
famous Gallican theologian. Du Pin brought out
his edition of Optatus in 1700, again at Amsterdam
in 1701, and in an improved form at Antwerp in 1702.
He discovered the important MSS CBG, and was thus
able to make the first serious attempt to restore the
correct text of Optatus in the many places where it
had become corrupt. He added notes of his own, and
also printed anew those of Casaubon, Albaspinaeus,

xxx ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Barthius and Balduinus. He is the author of the
concise marginal summary of the contents of each
chapter, prefixed a Preface and a History of the
Donatist schism to the text of Optatus, and appended
many valuable documents in various ways illus
trative of Donatism, as well as the Gesta Collationis
Carthaginensis, so far as they exist, in full.

For nearly two hundred years nothing fresh was
done for Optatus, until, as we have already stated,
at the end of the nineteenth century Ziwsa published
his critical edition. He had the advantage not only of
the labours of his predecessors, but also for the first
two Books he had access to P, which was unknown
to all of them. Ziwsa gives us the various readings,
but was precluded by the rule of the Vienna Academy
for the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum from
providing other footnotes. He has, however, con
tributed a long Preface, dealing exclusively with
questions concerning the text, as well as two valuable
Indices, the first Nominum et Rerum, the second
Verborum et Locutionum S. Optati.

In my translation I have generally followed Ziwsa's
text, but have not been afraid to desert it, if I thought
that I saw good reason — especially when Ziwsa him
self has deserted P. The different readings will
always be found in a footnote, unless they are of
absolutely no consequence. I have (as will be seen)
freely availed myself of the notes furnished by Du Pin,
especially of his own and of those of Casaubon. But
it is strange how often those passages in Optatus
which seem to me to present most difficulty and have

PREFACE xxxi

caused the greatest uncertainty in my mind as to
their precise meaning have been left untouched by
all the commentators, without any explanation what
ever.

In conclusion I must express my deepest sense
of obligation to Dom John Chapman, O.S.B. With
unfailing kindness and generosity he has corrected
my work throughout, whilst it was yet in manuscript.
To him I owe numerous suggestions. Without his
aid I should never have ventured to undertake a
task which has been to me a delightful labour, full
of unexpected interest on every page. My hope is
that many others may, through this English work,
go if possible to the Latin, or may, in any case, fall
happily under that which to me it is no exaggeration
to term the spell and fascination of St. Optatus of
Mile vis.

CONTENTS

PAGB

PREFACE v

THE SEVEN BOOKS OF ST. OPTATUS OF MILEVIS
AGAINST THE DONATISTS.

BOOK THE FIRST

WHO WERE THE BETRAYERS AT THE TIME OF THE PERSECU
TION. THE CAUSES OF THE SCHISM. WHERE AND BY
WHOM THE SCHISM WAS MADE 1-56

BOOK THE SECOND

WHICH is THE ONE TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND WHERE
IS IT TO BE FOUND ? THE FlVE ENDOWMENTS OF THE
CHURCH BELONG TO CATHOLICISM, NOT TO THE SCHISM.
THE DONATISTS HAVE BEEN GUILTY OF SHAMELESSLY
SCRAPING THE HEADS OF PRIESTS, AND OF MURDERS, OF
GIVING THE EUCHARIST TO DOGS, AND OF CASTING AWAY
THE HOLY CHRISM 57-119

BOOK THE THIRD

THE FOUR REASONS ON ACCOUNT OF WHICH IT WAS NOT
POSSIBLE TO BRING ABOUT UNITY WITHOUT SEVERITY.

BECAUSE THE SCHISMATICS HAD BUILT CHURCHES ' THAT WERE
NOT WANTED.'

BECAUSE DONATUS OF CARTHAGE HAD APPEALED TO THE
EMPEROR TO BRING ABOUT UNITY.

xxxiv CONTENTS

PAGE

BECAUSE DONATUS OF BAGAIA COLLECTED BANDS OF ARMED
MEN TO STOP THE WORK OF UNITY.

BECAUSE NONE OF THOSE THINGS WITH WHICH THE WORK
OF UNITY HAS BEEN REPROACHED CAME TO PASS IN
OPPOSITION TO THE WILL OF GOD . . . 120-179

BOOK THE FOURTH
AN ANSWER is MADE TO CERTAIN ARGUMENTS OF PARMENIAN,

DRAWN FROM VARIOUS PASSAGES IN THE OLD TESTA
MENT ........ l8o~202

BOOK THE FIFTH

IN THIS FIFTH BOOK IT is SHOWN THAT THOUGH MEN ARE THE
MINISTERS OF BAPTISM, IT is GOD WHO CLEANSES, AND
THAT IT is His CHRIST WHO GIVES WHAT is RECEIVED
IN BAPTISM, AND THAT THE REBAPTISED CANNOT POSSESS
THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND THAT THEY HAVE LOST THE
WEDDING GARMENT ...... 203-245

BOOK THE SIXTH
IN THIS BOOK IT is SHOWN THAT THE DONATIST BISHOPS

WICKEDLY DESTROYED ALTARS, THAT THEY SOLD THE

HOLY VESSELS, AND WITHOUT WARRANT STRIPPED
NUNS OF THEIR VEILS ..... 246-268

BOOK THE SEVENTH

IN THIS LAST BOOK IT IS SHOWN THAT THE CHILDREN OF THE
BETRAYERS, WHOSE NAMES WERE GIVEN IN THE FIRST

BOOK, MAY NOW, FOR THE SAKE OF UNITY, BE RECEIVED
BACK INTO THE CATHOLIC COMMUNION . . 275-297

PSEUDO-OPTATUS.
A . . 298 | B . . 305 I C . .310

A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY SAYINGS OF ST

OPTATUS 3"

CONTENTS xxxv

APPENDIX

PREFACE TO APPENDIX ^21

I- — THE ACTS OF THE VINDICATION OF FELIX, BISHOP OF

APTUNGA ...... 327

II- — THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE ZENOPHILUS . . . 346

III- — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO AELAFIUS . . . 382

IV. — LETTER OF THE COUNCIL OF ARLES TO POPE SYLVESTER 388

V- — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS . 393

VI.— LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO THE DONATIST BISHOPS . 399

VII. — LETTER OF PREFECTS TO CELSUS .... 401

VIII. — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO CELSUS . . 403

IX. — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO THE BISHOPS AND PEOPLE

OF AFRICA ...... 407

X. — A RESCRIPT OF CONSTANTINE .... 410

XI, — ACTS OF THE COUNCIL OF CIRTA .... 416

XII.— LETTER OF THE PROCONSUL ANULINUS TO CONSTANTINE 420

XIIL— LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO POPE MILTIADES . . 422

XIV- — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO PROBIANUS . . -425

xv- — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO ANULINUS (I). . . 428

XVI. — LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO ANULINUS (II). . . 430

THE WORK OF
ST. OPTATUS THE AFRICAN

BISHOP OF MILEVIS

ON THE SCHISM OF THE DONATISTS
AGAINST PARMENIAN

BOOK THE FIRST

WHO WERE THE BETRAYERS AT THE TlME OF THE
PERSECUTION. THE CAUSES OF THE SCHISM.
WHERE AND BY WHOM THE SCHISM WAS MADE.

ONE Faith,1 most honoured brethren,2 commends 3

1 Cunclos nos Christianas, clarissimi fratres, Omnipotent! Deo
fides una commendat. With these striking words St. Optatus opens
his work against the Donatists. Fides una — the One Faith, un
tainted by any specific heresy. St. Optatus insists more than once,
with emphasis, that he does not charge those against whom he writes
with heresy (sin against faith), but with schism (sin against unity)
(cf. 1,9; i, 12; hi, 9; v, i), and complains (i, 10) that Parmenian paid
no attention to this essential distinction. St. Augustine, however,
in his second Book against Cresconius explains the reasons why
the Donatists of his time deserved to be called heretics, and in his
Book on Heresies he hardly ever gives them any other name,
explaining at length that their schism had now become a heresy.
In this it did but follow a usual law. ' Haeresis scisma inveteratum.'
These are the words of St. Augustine, and St. Jerome writes to the
same effect : (Ep. ad Tit. iii) ' An erroneous doctrine constitutes

I. The

Divine
Gift of
Peace,
bestowed
upon all
Christians.

2 THE FAITH

us all, who are Christians, to the keeping of Almighty
God. To this Faith it appertains to believe that the
Son of God, the Lord,1 shall come to judge the world —
that He, who has already come, has been born,
according to His Human Nature, through 2 Mary a
Virgin, that He has suffered, died, and (after having
been buried) has risen from the grave.

heresy ; schism is separation from the Church, through the depar
ture of a Bishop (or of Bishops). But there is no schism which
fails to frame for itself some heresy, that it may form a pretext
for having departed from the Church.' St. Augustine tells us
further that Donatus the Great was heretical about the Trinity,
though the fact was generally unknown to his followers. He also
writes (Ep. clxiii) that he had heard that the Arians had endeavoured
to make common cause with Donatists in Africa.

2 fratres. St. Optatus will proceed immediately to justify
himself at considerable length for terming the Donatists his brethren,
notwithstanding the fact that they were schismatics, and there
fore his ' separated brethren ' (i, 3 ; cf. iv, i ; iv, 2). So also St.
Augustine : ' Quotidie enim quibusdam non nobiscum in una
Ecclesia, nee in iisdem Sacramentis constitutis, dicimus, Prater.
Sodomitis etiam dixit Loth, Fratres (Gen. xix, 7), utique ad
leniendum eorum animositatem, non ad cognitam fraternitatem,
quasi unius haereditate consortium.' (Gesta Collationis Carthag.
diei iii, ccxlii). Cf. Aug. cont. Farm, iii, 2.

3 commendat. Ziwsa says that commendat here = tutelae Dei
mandat (cf. the prayer of the Church, e.g. in Fest. S. Antonii, ' Inter-
cessio nos, quaesumus Domine, beati Antonii Abbatis commendet ').
Casaubon thinks that it means either : ' One Faith approves us all,
who are Christians, to Almighty God ' (i.e. makes us pleasing to
Him) ; or ' One Faith proves that, in the sight of Almighty God,
we all are Christians.' (Cf. S. August. Brev. Coll. iii, 10 : ' Dona-
tistae Scripturarum testimonio unam Ecclesiam commendaverant.'
The Donatists had proved by the witness of the Scriptures that
the Church is One.) It must, however, be admitted that it is not
possible to produce a passage, at least from the works of St. Augus
tine, in which commendare is used in this sense with the Dative, as
above Omnipotent Deo.)

1 Ziwsa following G reads Filium Dei Dominum. PRBvb
have Filium Dei Deum.

2 G reads ex. All the other MSS. have per.

THE GIFT OF PEACE 3

Also, before ascending to Heaven, whence He had
descended,1 He left behind, through His Apostles, as
His parting gift,2 to all Christians, Peace.3

1 Cf. John iii, 13.

2 Itoriam P. Storiam RB. Victvicem G. This last reading
is evidently a desperate, though brilliant guess (' He bequeathed
victorious peace ') . It is, however, adopted by Du Pin, who observes
that it seems impossible to translate storiam. Ziwsa reads storiam,
and tells us that it here means not as usually, a carpet, but a breast
plate (Schutzwehr) (' He left peace as a breastplate '). Du Pin
(not knowing P) did not see Itoriam. Evidently Ziwsa put it aside
as a hopeless corruption. Yet without doubt it is the true reading,
for, as Dom John Chapman O.S.B. has pointed out to me, this word
has been discovered with its explanation by the learned Dom
Germain Morin O.S.B. in an unpublished sermon of St. Augustine
(see Revue Bened. 1895 xii, p. 388). ' Loquebatur cum Apostolis
suis ascensurus. Videamus qualia illis reliquit, sicut dici solet
ITORIA. Humanae conditionis est quod dico, ut quando ab
amicis amici deducuntur (are conducted a little way on their
departure), quando ille qui deducitur discedere caeperit, quia necesse
est ut relinquat in animo diligentium se nonnullam tristitiam, dat
eis aliquid pecuniae, unde illis eadem dies, sicut dicitur, bene sit,
id est, unde convivant, simul laetentur et iucundentur. Et haec
quantulacunque pecunia quae datur, hilari nomine ITORIA nun-
cupatur (This small sum of money is jokingly called ' Journey
Money'). Quiddimisit Dominus Ihesus discipulis suis ? Exultate,
adtentite, quia ITORIA ilia non solum illos inebriavit, sed ad nos
usque manebit . . . (and further on) Eritis Mihi testes in lerusalem.
Primo ibi, ubi sum occisus, ibi ero gloriosus. In lerusalem et in
totam ludaeam et Samariam. Et adhuc parum est. Et usque in
totam terram. O ! ITORIA ! ' Thus we have two forms of
Itoria (i) neuter plural with qualia and by itself, (z) feminine
singular itoria ilia . . . inebriavit. Evidently it is an adjectival
form, in popular use (sicut dici solet, itoria), and doubtful number
(i) as a substantive = neuter plural, (2) in feminine ilia itoria,
(sc. pecunia). St. Augustine makes Our Lord's itoria (parting
gift) to His disciples and to His Church (ad nos usque manebit}
the right of preaching throughout the world ; St. Optatus (in
accordance with the purpose of his treatise) makes it Peace. ' He
left us Peace as His parting gift — to all of us, in the person of His
Apostles.'

3 St. Optatus throughout his work continually uses the word
Pax, to express the visible unity and communion of the Faithful

4 PEACE BROKEN BY SCHISM

And, lest it should seem that to His Apostles only
He had left this Peace, He said :

' That which I say to you, I say to all.' 1
And He also said :

' My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave unto
you.- 2

Thus we see that Peace has been given to all
Christians.

That it is God's Peace, we know, inasmuch as He
says ' My Peace.' But when He says ' I give to you/
we know that He willed that it should belong not
only to Himself, but to all those as well who should
believe in Him.

Peace had remained whole and inviolate 3
disturbed as it was given, and had not been disturbed by the
Schism. authors of the schism, there would not be any disagree
ment to-day between us and our brethren, nor would
they be causing God inconsolable tears (as Isaiah the
prophet bears witness4), nor would they deserve the

in the Catholic Church ; of course it also denotes their invisible
union with God through grace.

1 Mark xiii, 37. 2 John xiv, 27.

3 Quae Pax . . . -Integra inviolataque . It is an interesting coinci
dence — but probably a coincidence only — that these last two words,
applied by St. Optatus to God's Peace (by which he designates the
Catholic Unity), are used in the Athanasian Creed of the Catholic
Faith : ' Catholicam Fidem, quam nisi quisque integvam inviola-
tamque servaverit.'

4 The reference is to Isaiah xxii, 4 : ' Therefore have I said :
Depart from Me : I will weep bitterly : labour not to comfort
Me for the devastation of the daughter of My people.' Optatus
uses the same strong figure twice in iii, 2 : ' In dolore Dei amare
plorantis,' and again : ' Indicat Deus lacrymas suas quas vos
fecistis, quas testatur nulla posse consolatione siccari,' with a
reference to the same passage in Isaiah.

EVIL DEEDS OF DONATISTS 5

name, and do the deeds, of false prophets 1 ; nor would
they have built a crumbling and whitened wall 2 ;
nor would they overturn simple but too credulous
minds ; nor would they, by wickedly imposing hands 3
upon the heads of all, place upon them the veils of
destruction 4 ; nor would they speak evil things to
God 5 ; nor would they re-baptise the Faithful ; nor
should we now be grieving for the souls which they
have either destroyed or slain, — souls of the innocent,
for whom God was the first to grieve, saying by the
mouth of Ezekiel the prophet :

' Woe to you who place a veil over every head and
over every age, for the destruction of souls. The souls
of My people have been destroyed ; and they spoke evil
things to Me amongst My people, that they might slay souls
which ought not to die, whilst they proclaim to My people
their empty deceits.'6

1 vatum is in all the MSS. It has been suggested that it should
be fratrum (cf. 2 Cor. xi, 27). But cf. iii, 10 : ' parietem fecisse
dicuntur falsi vales.'

2 nee ruinosum ac dealbaium extvuevent parietem. For the full
meaning of this reference to Ezekiel xiii, 10, see iii, 10.

3 In Penance.

4 Cf. Ez. xiii, 1 8. It was strictly forbidden to impose the Veil
of Penance upon the innocent, thus withdrawing them from the
Communion of the Body of Christ, or, under any circumstances,
upon Bishops or clergy, even though they might have been guilty
of such a serious sin as that of apostasy.

5 nee malediceyent Deo, i.e. by the exorcisms used by the Donatists
when they rebaptised Catholics or subjected them to Penance.
These Donatists are said by St. Optatus profanely to rail at, or
speak evil things to.the Spirit of God. Optatus develops this thought
in iv, 6 where he accuses the Donatists of saying to God — dwelling
in the soul of the Catholic : ' Maledicte, exi foras.' In both passages
he refers to Ez. xiii, 19, where he reads ' maledicebant Mihi.' (The
Vulgate has ' violabant Me.'} Cf. also ii, 21 : ' Quid iniquius quam
exorcizare Spiritum Sanctum ? '

6 Ez. xiii, 1 8.

6 WHY SCHISMATICS ARE CALLED BRETHREN

SchisWhy Lest any one should say> that without thought I

matics call them brethren, I would reply that such they are,

cai°iedd ] e for we cannot escape from the words of the prophet

Brethren. Isaiah i . andj although they would not deny (as all

men know well) that they hold us in abhorrence, and

ban us utterly and are unwilling to be called our

brethren,2 still we may not depart from the fear of

God, for the Holy Spirit exhorts us by Isaiah the

prophet, saying :

' You who fear the Word of the Lord, hear ye the Word
of the Lord.

' To those who detest and curse you, and are unwilling
to be called your brethren,3 say ye nevertheless :

' " You are our brethren." ' 4

They therefore are without doubt brothers, though
not good brothers. Wherefore let no one marvel that
I term those brothers, who are unable to escape being
our brethren.5 They and we have one spiritual birth,
though widely differing is our conduct.

For even Ham, who mocked undutifully at his
father's shame,6 was the brother of the innocent. In

1 Is. Ixvi, 5.

a St. Augustine also bears witness (con. Gaudent. iii ; con. Farm.
iii, 2) that the Donatists repudiated the name of Brothers in their
dealings with Catholics.

3 et nolunt se did fratres vestros. These words are interpolated
by Optatus in the midst of his quotation, to make his sense clear.

4 St. Optatus quotes here from the Septuagint Version ; the
same passage (also from the Septuagint) is quoted by Tertullian,
con. Marc, iv, 16, and by St. Augustine Lib. post Coll. The Vulgate
(from the Hebrew) conveys quite a different sense : dixemnt fratres
vestri odientes vos et abiicientes propter Nomen Meum.

5 They could not escape this, because by Baptism they had
become Sons of God, and therefore brethren of all the brothers
of Christ.

6 Gen. ix, 22.

WHY OPTATUS ANSWERED PARMENIAN 7

accordance with his deserts, he incurred the yoke of
slavery, so that he — their brother — was assigned in
bondage to his brethren. From this we see that, even
where there is sin, the name of brotherhood is not
lost.

Concerning the sins of these our brethren, I will
speak in another place. For they, sitting over against
us, speak1 evil things about us.2 They consort with
that Thief 3 who robs God, and share their lot with
adulterers4 (that is, with heretics), and make their
sins an object of praise,5 and plan reproachful words
against us Catholics.

They all — each in his own district — make a great iv. Why
noise with wicked words. To some of their state- Sought it
ments I may reply when opportunity arises.6 But

we have found only one with whom it is possible to the task
discuss these matters either by correspondence, or by ing Par-
the exchange of treatises— Parmenian our brother,
if indeed he will allow us to call him brother. Since
they are unwilling to be in communion, as \ve are, with

1 denotant. Literally ' they brand us with infamy.' This is
the reading of PG and gains added probability from the fact that
St. Optatus twice (iv, 3 ; iv, 5) quotes Ps. xlix, 20 thus : ' Sedens
adversus fratrem tuum denolabas.' Du Pin says of Denotant ' legunt
sed male.' But we must never forget that Du Pin did not see P,
and therefore looked upon denotant merely as an emendation of G,
destitute of authority. The other MSS. have detrahunt.

2 Ps. xlix, 19 et seq. (cf. iv, 5, where Optatus discusses this
passage at length).

3 Satan (cf. iv, 6).

4 moechis. Optatus argues that moechi = haeretici in iv, 6.
(Cf. i, 10.)

6 peccata sua laudant.

6 This sentence is not in PRBvb. It is only to be found in G.

•H- B 4

8 THE USEFULNESS OF DISCUSSION

the whole body of Bishops,1 let it be freely granted
that they are not colleagues, if they refuse so to be,
but (as we have already said), brothers they are.

Now, my brother Parmenian, in order that he might
not speak like the rest, in a windy 2 and unconvincing
manner, has not only given utterance to his opinions
in speech, but has also set them down in writing.
Since, then, love of truth compels us 3 to answer what
he has said, we may still have some sort of conference
— even though we cannot meet together.4

By this means also the wishes of certain people
will be satisfied. For many have often expressed a
desire for a public discussion between champions
drawn from both sides, in order to elicit the truth.
And this might well have been done. At any rate,
though the Donatists forbid their people to come to
us, and close the way to any approach to us, and avoid
a meeting,5 and refuse to speak with us, let there be
a conference, my brother Parmenian, between us two
in this way, that, as I have not thought little of, nor

1 Collegium episcopate nolunt nobiscum habere commune. ' Col
legium episcopate,' the whole College of Bishops throughout the
Catholic world.

2 ventose. R has venenose.

3 veritate cogente compelUmuv. We shall often find St. Optatus,
as here, joining two synonyms together, (I suppose for strength
of expression,) without a shade of difference in meaning.

4 St. Augustine (Ep. clxvi) reminds the Donatists that their
Bishops had always refused any conference with Catholics, (with
whom as sinners they refused to speak,) and also (Ep. Ixviii) not
only that Paul had dealings with the Epicureans, but that Christ
had conversed with Satan himself concerning the Law. Many years
after the death of St. Optatus, the Donatists, though most un
willingly, were compelled by the Edict of the Emperor Honorius to
have the great Conference with the Catholics at Carthage (A.D. 41 1).

5 consessum.

menian s

PARMENIAN'S ATTACKS 9

despised, your treatises, which you have wished to be
read and quoted by many, but on the contrary have
patiently listened to everything that you have brought
forward, — so do you, in your turn, attend to the reply
which, with humility, I make to you.

Now I understand well, and you do not deny, — v. The

, , . Nature

and every man, who is not a fool, will quite plainly of Par-
see for himself — that you never would have written
at such a length for any other purpose, excepting that
you might, by your writings, strike an undeserved
blow at the Catholic Church. But (as it has been
given me to discover) whilst your wishes say one thing,
your arguments shout another. Moreover, I perceive
that not all that you have written is an argument
against Catholicism.1

Indeed, though you are not a Catholic, what
you say often tells in favour of the Catholic
Church.2 Therefore it will only be necessary for us
to answer you when through wrong information you
write, not of what you have yourself seen,3 but of what
you have heard from others speaking falsely (although
we have read in the Epistle of Peter :

' Be ye unwilling to judge your brother without
certainty ' 4) .

1 contra Catholicam. Tertullian (Praescr. 30) was the first
Father to use Catholica as a substantive. This use ceases after
the seventh century. We find it 240 times in St. Augustine.

2 immo multa pro Catholica, cum Catholicus non sis.

3 Cf. iii, 12 :' Veritas perspecta oculis dulcedinem suam in
se habens a falsae opinionis limitibus separata est ' etc.

4 We have here probably a paraphrase of James iv, n. St.
Optatus (no doubt quoting by heart) must have written Petri
instead of Jacobi by a lapse either of pen or of memory.

io PARMENIAN'S INCONSISTENCY

For instance, amongst other things which have no
reference to us (that they have no such reference I
shall prove), you say that we asked for armed troops
to be employed against you.

But in other parts of your treatise there are some
things which tell in our favour, and against you —
such are the analogy of the Flood, and that of Cir

cumcision.1

Some things there are which tell both for us and
for you. For example, what you have written in
praise of Baptism (excepting that you have said
untrue things concerning the Flesh of Christ) tells
in your favour 2 as well as in ours, because,
although you are outside, still, from us you went
forth.

It would also be in favour of both sides — if you
had not joined yourselves to those who are certainly
schismatics3 — that you have proved that heretics
are strangers to Catholic Sacraments.4

Some things are arguments for us alone. Such is
your reference to the One Church.

Some things that you have mentioned tell the
wrong way for you, in consequence of your ignorance,

1 Parmenian had argued that the Flood was a type, and Cir
cumcision the forerunner, of Baptism. But this told in favour
of Catholics and against the Donatists (who rebaptised) since there
was only one Flood and only one Circumcision.

2 Since Catholics admitted the validity of Baptism administered
by Donatists.

3 The Donatists, though not yet heretics, had by making or
joining a schism, lost their right to the Sacraments of the Church.

4 extraneos esse Catholicis Sacramentis = the Sacraments of
the Catholic Church ; cf . iii, 9 ' de unitate Catholica ' = the unity
of the Catholic Church.

TYPES OF BAPTISM n

as a foreigner,1 [of the facts] — for instance, your indict
ment of ' Betrayers ' 2 and schismatics.

The way in which you have written concerning
the Sacraments and Sacrifice,3 offered by one who is
in sin, also goes against you.

So, when we investigate, we discover that in reality
you have brought nothing against us except your
mistaken charge, that we asked to have troops
employed against you. That this is a calumny we
shall be able to prove to absolute demonstration.
Take this calumny out of your book, and you are
ours.

For what can be more to our purpose than your
argument from the fact that there was only one Flood
—the type of Baptism ? And, in maintaining that the
one 4 Circumcision availed for the salvation of the
people of the Jews, you have written in defence of
our doctrine, as though you were one of us. For this
is our argument, who defend the Unity of Baptism
conferred in [the Name of] the Trinity.5 It is not an
argument in favour of you, who dare to repeat, against

1 quia peregrinus es (cf . iii, 3) .

2 Traditorum. The crime of Traditio was the betraying of
the Sacred Books and Vessels under the stress of persecution.
I have throughout translated Traditores ' Betrayers ' and Traditio
' Betrayal.'

3 de oleo et sacriftcio peccatoris. Oleum is here used for the Sacra
ments, since Unction has from very early times been used in
Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Order (cf. note 3, p. 109) and the Last
Anointing. The reference is to Ps. cxl, 5 : ' Oleum autem peccatoris
non impinguet caput Meum.' (Cf. iv, 7, etc.)

* singularem. Cf. Singulars Baptisma (iii, 2 ; v, i), Singulare
Sacramentum (i, n), Singularis Cathedra (ii, 2), and Res singularis
(bis) (v, 10).

6 Cf. ii, 10.

12 THE ONE BAPTISM

the laws,1 that Baptism, of which the one Flood and
one Circumcision are typical. And this, although you
yourselves would not deny that what has been com
manded to be done once only, ought not to be repeated.
But whilst you have praised with acuteness that wThich
is worthy of all praise,2 you have by a quibble intro
duced your own persons, as if — since it is only lawful
once [to baptise] — for you it were lawful, for others
unlawful.3

If it be unlawful for Betrayers to baptise, it cannot
be lawful for you, for we can prove that your first
fathers were Betrayers.

If it be unlawful for schismatics to baptise, it must
therefore be unlawful for you, for you originated the
Schism.

If it be unlawful for sinners to baptise, we can
prove from divine testimony that you are sinners
also.

Finally, since the validity of Baptism does not
depend upon the character of the man who has been
chosen to baptise, but upon an act which lawfully is
done but once, for this reason we do not set right4
baptisms which have been administered by you,

1 sc. Baptismatis. (Cf. v, 4 : ' Apostolorum, quibus leges baptis-
matis dedit,' and ' certo tempore dedit leges baptismatis Filius
Dei.')

2 sc. the Oneness of Baptism.

3 The crafty argument of the Donatists was this : ' There is
only one Baptism, it is true, but the right to baptise is lost by the
crime of Traditio ' — and the Catholics were Traditores. Therefore
Baptism administered by Catholics was no Baptism. It was
' unlawful/ null and void from the beginning.

4 emendamus. Literally correct, sc. by rebaptising.

SCOPE OF PARMENIAN'S BOOK 13

because both amongst us and amongst you the Sacra
ment is one.1

The whole nature of this Sacrament we shall set
forth in our fifth book.

My brother Parmenian, you have indeed treated VL The

•* arguments

of many things, but I see that I must not answer you set forth
point by point, in the same order as that which you menian's
have employed. For you have written in the first t-
place of the figures and praise of Baptism. Here
(with the exception of your error concerning the Flesh
of Christ) you have written well. But this, however,
tells in our favour, as we shall show in its proper place.

Secondly, you have maintained that there is only
One Church, from which heretics are shut out. You
have, however, been unwilling to recognise where this
One Church is to be found.

Thirdly, you have denounced the ' Betrayers '
without fixing names or describing persons.

Fourthly, you have attacked the makers of Unity.2

Fifthly (to pass over matters of but trifling

1 This is the enunciation of the true Catholic principle. Whether
Peter baptises, or John, or James, or Judas Iscariot, it is truly
Christ who baptises. (Cf. S. Aug. Tract, vi in Joannem : ' Nam
si pro diversitate meritorum Baptisma sanctum est, quia diversa
sunt merita, diversa erunt baptismata ; et tanto quisque aliquid
melius putatur accipere, quanto a meliore videtur accepisse.')

2 operarii Unitatis. St. Optatus uses this phrase in very many
places. Ziwsa says that it = administri Unitatis (officers or servants
of Unity). I think, however, that it also carries with it the idea
that these ' workmen ' (Leontius, Macarius, Paulus, Taurinus and
others of whom we shall hear so often in the course of this work —
iii, i, 3, etc.) achieved the task at which they laboured, no doubt,
in an official capacity. Operari est opus facere (cf. note 3, p. 30).
So I have translated it throughout simply makers.

14 SCOPE OF OPTATUS' ANSWER

importance), you have written about the Sacraments
and Sacrifice of a sinner.

vn. The But it seems to me that in the first place the cities,

division of . .

this work positions, and names oi the Betrayers and schismatics
content* should be pointed out.1 In this way the true authors
several °^ tne crimes, concerning which you have written,
books. may ke convicted of their certain guilt.

Secondly,2 I shall have to say which is the Church,
or where is to be found the One Church — which is
the Church — because, besides the One Church, there is
no other.

Thirdly, I shall prove that we did not ask for the
troops and that what is said to have been done by the
makers of Unity does not concern us.

In the fourth place, I shall show who is the sinner
whose sacrifice God repudiates, or from whose Sacra
ments 3 we must flee.

Fifthly, I shall treat of Baptism ; and in the sixth
place of your ill-considered assumptions and mistakes.

vni. The But before I say anything of these subjects

ChrisUs separately, I shall show briefly that you have spoken

not sinful. wrongfuny 4 Of tfce Flesh of Christ, for you have said

that the Flesh which was drowned by the floods of

1 The public records of each city, if searched, would show in
which of these any persons had been guilty of the crime of Traditio,
the names of the offenders, and whatever offices they might have
held.

2 St. Optatus thinks it well to deal first with the quaestio facti.
Having done this (in Book I), he will come secondly (in Book II)
to the quaestio iuvis.

3 oleum. (Cf. note 3, p. n.)

4 male.

THE FLESH OF CHRIST 15

the Jordan, and was thus cleansed from all stains, was
the Flesh of Sin. You might have said this with
reason if the Baptism of the Flesh of Christ had sufficed
for all, so that it were not necessary for any man to
be baptised for himself. Had this been so, the whole
human family would have been in the Jordan, and all
that which is born in the flesh would have been there.
In that case there would have been no difference between
the Faithful and any one of the heathen, for flesh
belongs to them all ; and since there is no man who is
without flesh, if, according to your mode of expression,
the Flesh of Christ was drowned in the waters of the
Jordan, the flesh of all men would have gained this
benefit. But the Flesh of Christ is one thing in Christ—
quite another is the flesh of each man in himself. What
came over you to call the Flesh of Christ sinful ?
Would that you had said ' the flesh of men in the
Flesh of Christ . ' But even thus, you would have spoken
without reason,1 since each believer is baptised in the
Name of Christ, not in the Flesh of Christ, which
belonged to Himself exclusively. I may add that His
Flesh, which was conceived by the Holy Ghost, could
not be washed, amongst others, for the remission of
sins, for It was without any sin.2 You have gone on
to say that It was drowned in the floods of the Jordan.3
This word drowned, you have used inadvisedly enough,
for it is a word which should be used only of Pharaoh
and his people, who were so drowned by the weight

1 nee sic pvobabilitev dixeras.

2 quae nullum videbatur admisisse peccatum = quae nullum
admittebat peccatum. This pleonastic use of videor is very common
in Optatus.

3 addidisti et lordanis diluvio demersam.

16 THE HERETICS OF THE PAST

of their offences, as to remain, like lead, beneath the
waters. But the Flesh of Christ, when It went down
into and came up from the Jordan, ought not to have
been spoken of by you as drowned. His Flesh was
found to be more holy than the very Jordan, so that
rather did It cleanse the water by Its entrance, than
Itself was cleansed.

ix. Men- Moreover, I cannot pass over a matter in which

Heretics I think you have acted craftily. In order that you

by* Par- might lead the minds of your readers off the point,

tcfncfgood or deceive them, after you had described Circumcision

purpose. and the Flood, and after you had praised Baptism,

you thought fit to raise, as it were from the dead,

heretics who were already dead and, together with

their heresies, buried in oblivion — and this although

not only their errors, but even their names,

were unknown throughout Africa — Marcion, Praxeas,

Sabellius, Valentinus, and the rest up to the Cata-

phrygae, all of whom were confuted in their time by

Victorinus of Pettau,1 by Zephyrinus of Rome,2 by

Tertullian of Carthage, and by other champions of the

Catholic Church.3 Why, then, do you wage a war

with the dead, who have nothing to do with the affairs

1 St. Jerome tells us that Victorinus, Bishop of Pettau, (who
was martyred under Diocletian,) published many writings. His
notes on the Apocalypse and a fragment on the Creation are extant.

2 urbico. Cf. 'urbica commoratio' (ii, 4), 'in Urbe ' (i, 27).
Zephyrinus was Pope cir. 201-218.

3 et aliis adsertonbus Ecclesiae Catholicae. It may, perhaps, at
first sight seem somewhat strange that St. Optatus should mention
Tertullian amongst ' the champions of the Catholic Church ' ;
yet, before his apostasy to Montanism, no one ever defended the
Catholic Faith with more zeal, energy and ability than the great
Tertullian.

DONATISTS POSSESSED THE SACRAMENTS 17

of our time ? For no reason, excepting that you,
who are a schismatic of to-day, having nothing that
you can prove against Catholics, have been pleased to
enumerate so many heretics and their heresies, to
spin out your somewhat wordy treatise.

Now there is another question : For what purpose x. The
have you mentioned those who have not the Sacraments
which you and we alike possess ? 1 Sound health does
not clamour for medicine ; strength which is secure
in itself does not need outside help ; truth has no lack
of arguments ; it is the mark of a sick man to seek
remedies ; it is the sign of a sluggard and a weakling
to run in search of auxiliaries ; it belongs to a liar
to rake up arguments.2

Erratum
Page 17, note i, line g, for v, 13 read v, 3.

16 THE HERETICS OF THE PAST

ix. Men- Moreover, I cannot pass over a matter in which
Heretics I think you have acted craftily. In order that you

might lead the minds of your readers off the point,
tcfncfgood or deceive them, after you had described Circumcision
purpose. and the Flood, and after you had praised Baptism,
you thought fit to raise, as it were from the dead,
heretics who were already dead and, together with
their heresies, buried in oblivion — and this although
not only their errors, but even their names,
were unknown throughout Africa — Marcion, Praxeas,
Sabellius, Valentinus, and the rest up to the Cata-
phrygae, all of whom were confuted in their time by
Victorinus of Pettau,1 by Zephyrinus of Rome,2 by
Tertullian of Carthage, and by other champions of the
Catholic Church.3 Why, then, do you wage a war

DONATISTS POSSESSED THE SACRAMENTS 17

Now there is another question : For what purpose x. The
have you mentioned those who have not the Sacraments
which you and we alike possess ? x Sound health does
not clamour for medicine ; strength which is secure
in itself does not need outside help ; truth has no lack
of arguments ; it is the mark of a sick man to seek
remedies ; it is the sign of a sluggard and a weakling
to run in search of auxiliaries ; it belongs to a liar
to rake up arguments.2

1 Mr. Sparrow Simpson, professing to paraphrase St. Optatus,
writes as follows : ' Plainly these Donatists are schismatics.
Although they are not in the Catholic Church, yet they are in
possession of the same two Sacraments as the Catholics. They are
not heretics. Heretics could not be in possession of true Sacraments,
so Optatus teaches.' St. Optatus teaches (i) that Baptism in the
Name of the Trinity is valid (v, 3) ; (2) that Baptism by heretics who
falsified the Creed (and consequently the Baptismal Formula) is
' varium et f alsum ' (i, 12 ; cf. v, 13) ; (3) that certain heretics of
this character, whom he specifies, .' have not the Sacraments,'
also that they are ' separated from Catholic Sacraments ' (i, 10) ; (4)
that heretics in general are without ' Sacramenta legalia ' (id.), and
'are strangers to the Sacraments of the Catholic Church' (i, 5).
This exhausts the teaching of Optatus on this subject: Mr. Sparrow
Simpson would himself call Nestorians and Eutychians heretics ; he
would say rightly that though they possess true Sacraments, they can
not use them lawfully: Mr. Sparrow Simpson allows himself to slip in
the word two before Sacraments. St. Optatus nowhere writes of ' two '
or of ' the same two Sacraments.' (St. Augustine and the African
Church Divisions, by the Rev. W. S. Sparrow Simpson, B.D., p. 44.)

2 If Parmenian had been in good faith, he would have confined
himself to dealing with his living quarrel with Catholics. He was

i8 HERETICS LACK LAWFUL SACRAMENTS

To return to your book, you have said l that the
Endowments 2 of the Church cannot be with heretics,
and in this you have said rightly,3 for we know that
the churches of each of the heretics have no lawful
Sacraments, since they are adulteresses, without the
rights of honest wedlock,4 and are rejected by Christ,
who is the Bridegroom of One Church,5 as strangers.6
This He Himself makes clear in the Canticle of
Canticles. When He praises One,1 He condemns the
others because, besides the One which is the true
Catholic Church, the others amongst the heretics are
thought to be churches, but are not such.8 Thus
He declares in the Canticle of Canticles (as we have
already pointed out) that His Dove is One, and that

merely beating the air by arguing with dead heretics, none of
whom were to be found at the time in Africa. All this was a virtual
admission of the weakness of his cause, and a sign of intellectual
dishonesty.

1 dixisti*

2 Dotes. Parmenian had maintained that there were six Notes
or Endowments of the Church : Cathedra, Angelus, Spiritus, Fons,
Sigillum and Umbilicus. St. Optatus recognises them all, except
the last, and discourses on them in his second Book. (Cf. note 3,
p. 64.)

3 et recte dixisti.

4 scimus enim haereticorum ecclesias singulorum, prostitutas,
nullis legalibus Sacramentis, et sine iure honesti matrimonii esse.
(Ziwsa has ' prostitutas, i.q. adulteras.'} The whole analogy is from
valid marriage, in contrast with, and opposed to, an irregular
union. Cf. iv, 8 : ' de haereticis apud quos sunt sacramentorum
falsa connubia ' ; iv, 6 : ' haereticos dicit moechos et moechas
Ecclesias illorum.' The True Church is the only Bride of Christ,
who is ' the Bridegroom of One Church.'

5 qui est Sponsus Unius Ecclesiae.

G non necessarias. Cf . iii, i : ' Basilicas fecerunt non necessarias '
(where see note 3, p. 121).

7 Canticles vi, 8.

8 ceterae apud haereticos putantur esse sed non sunt.

THE CHURCH IS ONE 19

she is also x the chosen Spouse, and again 2 a garden
enclosed, and a fountain sealed up.3

Therefore none of the heretics possess either the
Keys, which Peter alone received,4 or the Ring,5 with
which we read that the Fountain 6 has been sealed 7 ;
nor is any heretic one of those to whom that Garden

1 tandem.

2 eandem (so PGb) hortum conclusum. RBv read here eundem.
This reading is — as I venture to think somewhat strangely — followed
by Ziwsa. Du Pin has eandem and omits any reference to the variant.

3 Canticles iv, 12.

4 Ut haerelici omnes neque claves habeant, quas solus Petrus
accepit. These are no doubt Parmenian's own words, a quotation
from his book. They depend not upon what immediately precedes
them, but upon dixisti . . . et vecte dixisti, and are in the text adopted
and endorsed by St. Optatus. This is made clear in i, 12: 'Bene
revocasti claves ad Petrum.' It is hardly necessary to say that
Peter received the Keys in the name of the Church.

5 This is exceedingly obscure, and means of illustrating it from
other writings of the Fathers are so scanty as to be practically non
existent. What is meant by the Ring ? Albaspinaeus understands
it of Absolution, and quotes a passage, which he claims to be relevant,
from Tertullian (De Pudicitia). Casaubon will not have this at all.
He understands it, though with hesitation, of the Ring with which,
at certain fixed periods of the year, the baptisteries were sealed.
Du Pin understands it either of baptism, for which he also quotes
from Tertullian (De Poenitentia) , or of the Creed. For the last
interpretation Optatus himself may perhaps be quoted. He writes
(ii, 8) : ' Sigillum integrum (id est Symbolum Catholicum) non habentes
ad fontem verum aperire non possunt,' and (i, 12) : ' Bene sub-
dixisti anulum iis, quibus aperire non licet ad fontem.' If, as is
at least highly probable, anulus = sigillum, this settles the question.
(Cf . Aug. in loan. Ixxx, 2 : ' Accedit verbum ad elementum et fit
sacramentum.' The Baptismal Formula is as it were the compen
dium of the Creed.)

6 Du Pin understands the Fountain to be the Catholic Faith.
More probably, however, it signifies the Baptismal Font, where that
Faith was professed. (Cf. Note 3, p. 64, and Note i, p. 84.)

7 The reference is to Canticles iv, 12 : ' My spouse is a garden
enclosed, a fountain sealed up.' We search, however, in vain for
any reference to the Mystic Ring, with which it is said by Optatus
that ' we read that the Fountain has been sealed.'

20 THE SINS OF HERESY AND SCHISM

belongs in which God plants His young trees.1 Con
cerning these men, that which you have written at
length (although it has nothing to do with our present
business) is abundantly sufficient.

But to my surprise you have thought good to
attach yourselves to those who certainly are schis
matics, for in denying the Endowments of the Church
both to those who are heretics, and also to schismatics,
you have denied them to yourselves.

Amongst other things you have said that schismatics
have been cut off, like branches, from the Vine, and that
they have been reserved, marked off for punishment,
like dried wood, for the fires of Hell.

But I see that you do not yet know that the Schism
at Carthage was begun by your fathers. Search out
the beginning of these affairs, and you will find that
in associating heretics with schismatics, you have
pronounced judgement against yourselves.

For it was not Caecilian 2 who went forth from
Majorinus, your father's father,3 but it was Majorinus
who deserted Caecilian ; nor was it Caecilian who
separated himself from the Chair of Peter,4 or from

1 arbusculas (cf. i, 12; ii, n).

2 Caecilian was the Catholic Bishop of Carthage, whose con
secration — as we shall soon see — was the occasion of the beginning
of the Schism.

3 avo tuo. The line of the first Donatist Bishops of Carthage
was Majorinus, Donatus, Parmenian.

4 Cathedra Petri. The manner in which St. Optatus goes first
to the See of Peter and only in the second place to the local See
of Carthage, in order to prove that the Donatists were in schism, is
a fact of the greatest significance. It is quite clear that, in the eyes
of Optatus, any bishop out of communion with the See of Rome
was ipso facto schismatic. Otherwise, the reference to the Chair
of Peter in this connection is utterly meaningless and unintelligible.

BEGINNING OF THE DONATIST SCHISM 21

the Chair of Cyprian l — but Majorinus,2 on whose
Chair you sit — a Chair which had no existence 3 before
Majorinus himself. Since then there can be no possible
doubt that these things have thus happened, and that
you are the heirs of Betrayers and schismatics, I am,
my brother Parmenian, sufficiently surprised — seeing
that you are yourself a schismatic — that you should
have thought it advisable to join schismatics to heretics.
If, however, these are your principles, and you wish
to do so, heap up together 4 what you have laid down
only a little before. For you have said that ' It could
not be that one who was stained should wash away
sins in a baptism-that-is-not-Baptism,5 that one who
is unclean should cleanse, that one who trips men up 6
should raise them, that one who is lost should free,

Moreover, it is evident that Optatus expects the Donatists immedi
ately to recognise the force of this argument. Without hesitation
he appeals to them as follows : Cum haec ita gesta esse manifestissime
constet. Now the facts which are. here stated to be ' most clearly
certain ' are that Caecilian did not desert either the Apostolic See
of Peter or the local See of Cyprian, and that consequently Majorinus,
his rival, though consecrated by an influential party to the See of
Carthage, ' began with himself.' Parmenian would no doubt have
angrily denied that Majorinus was out of communion with the
See of Cyprian ; he could not possibly deny that Majorinus was
out of communion with the See of Peter. This, in the eyes of Optatus,
was decisive.

1 In Cathedra Petri vel Cypriani. Cf. ii, 4 : 'In Cathedra
Petri quam nescio si vel oculis novit [Macro bius].' For the dis
tinction between the Chair of Peter and that of Cyprian, cf. Augus
tine (II. De Baplismo cont. Donat. i, 2) : ' Et si distat Cathedramm
gratia, una est tamen Martyrum gloria [Petri et Cypriani].'

2 Majorinus was the first Donatist bishop. He wa.s, however,
merely a figurehead, whose personality was lost very early in that
of his successor, Donatus the Great, the immediate predecessor
of Parmenian.

3 origincm. * cumula ilia. RBv read cum ilia.
5 in falso baptismate. G omits in. 6 subplantator.

22 THE EARLY HERETICS

that one who is guilty should give pardon, that one
who has been condemned should absolve/ 1

All these things might well be true of heretics
alone, since they have falsified the creed,2 for amongst
them one has said that there are two Gods,3 though
God is One ; another wishes the Father to be recognised
in the Person of the Son 4 ; another robs the Son of
God of His Flesh,5 through which the world has been
reconciled to God, and there are yet others of the
same kind, who admittedly are separated from Catholic
Sacraments.6 Wherefore you should regret that you
have coupled schismatics with such men as these, for,
when you thought that you were attacking others, you
failed to observe how wide is the gulf between schis
matics and heretics, and turned the sword of judge
ment upon yourself.

1 Cf. i, 12 ; ii, 20.

2 quia falsaverunt Symbolum. G reads qui for quia. Heretics
who falsified the Creed would also falsify the Baptismal formula.
Consequently, Baptism conferred by them would be invalid, since
they did not baptise in the Name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghost. (Cf. note i, p. 17.) Mr. Sparrow Simpson writes
(op. cit. p. 44) : ' Heresy is surrender of the Creed,' and in a footnote
gives ' qui falsaverunt Symbolum.' Heresy, according to Optatus,
is something worse even than ' surrender.' It is ' falsification,' the
substitution of false teaching for true. And so has it ever been with
heretics in every age. Luther, for example, was not content with
' surrendering ' the doctrines of the supreme authority of the Church
in the interpretation of Holy Scripture, and of salvation through
' Faith working by Charity.' He ' falsified ' them, substituting the
doctrines of ' Private Judgement,' and of ' Justification by Faith only.'

3 This was said by Marcion (cf. iv, 5 ; v, 3) — also by Cerdon.

4 With confusion of Personality (cf . iv, 5, note on Praxeas, note 2,
p. 190).

5 Valentinus (cf. iv, 5 ; 8) and the other Docetae.

6 a Sacvamentis Catholicis alieni esse noscu-ntur. Cf. note 4,
p. 10, and note i, p. 17.

CATHOLICISM 23

This is the reason that you do not see which is the
Holy Church,1 and have in this way made confusion
of everything.2

Catholicism is constituted by a simple and true XL The

marks of

understanding in the law,3 by an unique and most theCatho
true mystery,4 and by unity of minds. But schism, a£d Offc '
after the bond of peace has been broken, is brought Schlsm-
into existence through passion, is nourished by hatred,
is strengthened by envy and dissensions, so that the
Catholic Mother is abandoned, whilst her unfilial
children go forth outside and separate themselves
(as you have done) from the root of Mother Church —
cut off by the shears of their hatred — and wickedly
depart in rebellion. They are not able, however, to
do anything new, or different 5 from that which long
ago they learned from their Mother.

1 quae sit Sancta Ecclesia.

2 sic omnia miscuisti.

3 Catholicam facit simplex et verus intellectus in lege. Harnack
quotes this passage and understands by lege the two Testaments
(History of Dogma, vol. v, p. 43), but states elsewhere that the
word lex is used more than 100 years before the time of Optatus, of
the Apostolic tradition preserved by the Roman Church, and Lex
Catholica is a common expression in the documents placed by St.
Optatus in his Appendix, so that the meaning of lege in this passage
is not quite certain. Also it is doubtful whether in lege is the true
reading here. PG have it, but Bvb give intelligere, R has intellegere.
Ziwsa deserts P and prints intellegere ( = ' a true and simple under
standing points out ' etc.). Casaubon is inclined to reject intelligere.
He evidently had not seen in lege. Du Pin, though he had not the
advantage of seeing P, has the merit (I think) of printing in lege.
He boldly relied on G.

4 singular e ac verissimum sacr amentum. Du Pin explains
' sacramentum symboli,' and Albaspinaeus ' unum symbolum, una
Fidei regula.'

6 novum aliquid aut aliud,i.e. as long as they remain schismatics
only — until they become heretics also.

24 THE SIN OF HERESY

xn. TO But heretics, exiles from the truth, deserters of the

to the sound and most true Creed,1 corrupted by their wicked

between e opinions and led astray from the bosom of Holy Church,

andetschis- reckoning nothing of their noble birth, in order to

matics. deceive the ignorant and ill-informed, have been pleased

to be born of themselves. And they, who for a long

time had been nourished on living food — which not

assimilated has turned to corruption 2 — have by

impious disputations vomited forth deadly poisons,

to the destruction of their wretched dupes.

You see, then, my brother Parmenian, that none
but heretics only — who are cut off from the home of
truth — possess ' various kinds of false Baptisms with
which he, who is stained, cannot wash, nor the unclean
cleanse, nor the destroyer raise, nor he, who is lost,
free, nor the guilty man give pardon, nor the condemned
man absolve.' 3

Rightly hast thou closed the Garden to heretics ;
rightly hast thou claimed the Keys for Peter 4 ; rightly
hast thou denied the right of cultivating the young
trees to those who are certainly shut out 5 from the

1 sani et verissimi Symboli desertores. Optatus here terms
heretics symboli desertores ; later on (iii, 8) he will term schismatics
caritatis desertores. For sani cf. vestis sana (iii, 9) ; lex in Deo
sana fuit (vii, i).

2 corruptela malae digestionis.

3 This is a quotation from Parmenian' s own "words in his book.
(Cf. pp. 21, 22.)

4 Perhaps Parmenian held the view enunciated by Tertullian
(De Pud. xxi, 9), after he had fallen into heresy, that the keys had
been given to Peter only, not to the Church. Perhaps he held that
they had passed from Peter to the Donatist Church. The Donatists,
it will be remembered, had their Antipope.

5 alienos. St. Optatus here says that heretics are alieni ab
hortulo et a Paradiso Dei ; later (ii, 6) he uses the same word
(alienum), in the same sense, of schismatics.

THE TRADITORES 25

garden and from the paradise of God l ; rightly hast
thou withdrawn the Ring from those to whom it is
not allowed to open the Fountain. But to you schis
matics, although you are not in the Catholic Church,2
these things 3 cannot be denied, since you have shared
true Sacraments with us.4

Wherefore, since all these things are justly denied
to heretics, why did you think well to deny them to
yourselves as well, who clearly are schismatics, for
you have gone outside ? For our part we were willing
that in this matter heretics alone should be condemned,
but so far as lies with you, you have chosen to strike
yourselves, together with them, in one condemnation.5

But now (to return to the order upon which we xin. The
have determined), in the first place listen to the of the* '
names of those who were Betrayers and learn more
distinctly who were the originators of the schism.
It is certain that two evil things have been perpetrated
in Africa — even the worst of all 6 — the first — Betrayal,
the second — Schism. Both these crimes were com
mitted, in one period of time, by the same wicked
men.

1 i.e. the Church. Cf. (ii, n) ecclesiam paradisum esse dixisti,
in quo horto Deus plantat arbusculas. We see that St. Optatus
when writing hortulo et paradiso is joining them as synonyms (cf.
note 3, p. 8).

2 quamvis in Catholica non sitis.

3 The Ring (= the Creed) and the Fountain ( = the Font).
Cf. note 6, p. 19.

4 quia nobiscum vera et communia Sacramento, traxistis.

6 quantum in te est, etiam vos ipsos una sententia ferire voluisti.

6 duo mala et pessima. Cf. ' Scisma summum malum ' (i, 21)
and ' Aestimo vos non negare unitatem summum bonum esse '
(iii, 4).

26 THE PERSECUTION BY DIOCLETIAN

You ought, therefore, my brother Parmenian, to
learn that of which you are understood to be ignorant ;
for sixty years and more have passed since the storm
of persecution spread abroad throughout the whole of
Africa 1 — a persecution which made some Martyrs,
others Confessors, whilst not a few it laid low in a
terrible death,2 leaving unharmed those who lay in
hiding.

Why should I make mention of laymen who at
that time were supported by no ecclesiastical dignity ?
Why name a host of clerics 3 ? Or deacons in the third,4
or priests in the second degree of the sacerdotium, when
the heads and chiefs of all,5 some Bishops of that

1 Optatus refers here to the persecution under Diocletian,
which began in the month of February A.D. 303, and ended in the
West in 305.

2 prostravit in mortem funestam. Sc. the death of the soul
through apostasy.

3 ministros.

4 The application of the term sacerdotium to deacons cannot,
I think, be found anywhere in antiquity excepting in this passage.
Not many years after the death of St. Optatus, the Fathers at the
Council of Carthage made the following distinction : ' When a
deacon is ordained, it is the Bishop alone (without the imposition
of hands of other priests) who blesses him, placing his hand upon his
head, because he is consecrated, not to the sacerdotium, but to the
ministry of service (ministerium) .' The word sacerdos was used of
either bishops or priests, episcopus being reserved for the first degree,
and presbyter for the second degree, of the sacred ministry.
It is very curious to read these words in the Canon Law (Dist.
31 Can. 14) ' Aliter se Orientalium traditio habet Ecclesiarum,
aliter huius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae. Nam illarum sacerdotes
diaconi et subdiaconi matrimonio copulantur. Istius autem
Ecclesiae vel Occidentalium nullus sacerdotum a subdiacono usque
ad episcopum licentiam habet coniugium sortiendi.' As far as I
can discover, this is the only instance of the word sacerdos being
applied to subdeacons.

6 ipsi apices et principes omnium, (P omits omnium.) The
Episcopate is the apex of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. From the

PURPURIUS THE MURDERER 27

period,1 in order to purchase for themselves, at the loss of
Life Eternal, some very short prolongation of this un
certain day, impiously betrayed the records 2 of the law
of God ? Amongst whom were Donatus of Mascula,
Victor of Rusicca, Merinus from the Baths of Tibilis,
Donatus of Calama, and Purpurius of Limata, the
murderer 3 — who, when he was questioned on the
charge of having killed his sister's sons in the prison
of Mileum,4 confessed it with the words : ' Yes, I did
kill them, and not them alone do I kill, but whoever
shall act against me/ And Menalius who pretended
that he had a pain in his eyes, and trembled at the
idea of meeting his own people,5 for fear lest it should
be proved against him by his fellow-citizens that he
had offered incense to idols.

After the persecution, these Bishops and others XIV- The

. , ,, . , , acts of the

whom we shall soon show to have been the first leaders Council
of your schism, gathered together on the thirteenth of of Qrta'

point of view of the Sacrament of Order, the Bishop of Beneventum
is the equal of the Bishop of Rome.

1 aliqui Episcopi illius temporis. RBvb read illis temporibus.

8 instrumenta. This word is used by Tertullian and others for
a codex containing several books. Thus Instrumentum loannis =
a collection of St. John's Epistles. Novum Instrumentum = the
New Testament.

3 homicida.

4 Mileum, also called Milevis, the town where St. Optatus was
Bishop.

5 ad consessum suorum procedcre trepidavit. Cf. ' consessum
vitant ' (i, 4). Suorum may mean his Brother Bishops, in which
case consessum should be here translated a Synod. RBGv read
consensum, but this is manifestly a mistake ; it is corrected in the
margin of G.

28 THE COUNCIL OF CIRTA

May x at the town of Cirta 2 — in the house of Urbanus
Carisius — for the Basilicas had not yet been restored.
This is attested by the writings of Nundinarius,3 then a
deacon, and is proved by the age of the parchments,
which I can show to anyone really in doubt, for in
the Appendix to these books I have subjoined the
whole number 4 of these documents to certify the
truth of my statements. These Bishops, on being
questioned by Secundus of Tigisis, acknowledged that
they had been Betrayers.5 And, as Secundus 6 himself
was taunted by Purpurius not for having escaped, but
for having been set free after he had remained for a
long time amongst the soldiers, they all stood up 7

1 die Hi Iduum Maiarum. St. Augustine tells us that the official
Acts of the Council of Cirta had iv Nonas Martii. Du Pin proves
that the true date was Hi Nonas Martii. The year was A.D. 305.
These Bishops met to choose and consecrate a successor to Paulus,
who had behaved so badly during the persecution under Diocletian
two years previously (cf. Appendix, p. 353). Apparently Paulus
had died in the interval (cf. S. Aug. c. Cresc. iii, 27-30).

2 At this period the three chief governmental divisions of Africa
were (i) 'The Proconsular' or Africa proper, with Carthage for its
capital, (2) Numidia, (3) Mauritania. Cirta, soon to be refounded
under the name of Constantine, which it still retains, was the capital
of Numidia. The ecclesiastical division into provinces was roughly,
but not exactly, coincident with the secular.

3 For many references to Nundinarius, see Appendix, Gesta
apud Zenophilum, pp. 347-381. Cf. Aug. con. Crescon. iii, 20 ; Brev.
Coll. iii, 17.

4 Harum plenitudinem rerum. The full evidence. Half of
this appendix has unfortunately been lost. (Cf. Preface to Appendix,
p. 322.) For Acts of Council of Cirta see Appendix, pp. 416-419.

5 See Appendix, p. 417.

6 Secundus was Primate of Numidia and President of the
Council of Cirta.

7 iam omnes erecti caeperant murmur are. RBvb have heretici.
Casaubon, who had not seen erecti, points out that heretici is contra
mentem Optati and suggests : ' haeret ei,' caeperant murmur are
=' they began to mutter " It sticks to him " ' — i.e. It fits him. It

THE FATHERS OF THE SCHISM 29

and began to mutter that he had been set free only
because he betrayed the sacred books. Then Secundus,
fearing their temper, received advice from his brother's
son, Secundus the Less, to remit an affair of this
character to God.1 The others, who had not been
accused, that is to say, Victor of Garba, Felix of
Rotarium and Nabor of Centurio, were then con
sulted. They said that a case of this kind ought to
be reserved to the Lord. Then said Secundus ' Sit
down all.' They all replied ' Thanks be to God,'
and sat down. You see, therefore, my brother Par-
menian, that it is quite clear who were the Betrayers.

It was not long after this, that these very persons XJ/ The
whom I have mentioned, of the character I have took its
described, Betrayers, men who had offered incense
to idols, and murderers,2 proceeded to Carthage, and
there, although Caecilian was already the Bishop,
made the Schism by consecrating Majorinus — on
whose Chair, Parmenian, you sit. And since I have
shown, that men who were guilty of Betrayal were
your first fathers, it follows that Betrayers were also
the originators of your Schism.

belongs to him — the charge is true.' This emendation is an example
of Casaubon's extraordinary ingenuity. But erecti (PG) is certainly
the true reading and would no doubt have been at once accepted
by Casaubon (had he known of it) on its own merits, independently
of the authority given it by P. So reluctantly we have to sacrifice
' haeret ei.' Du Pin naturally takes erecti from G and observes of
heretici ' criticos torsit.' But none of the critics, in his ' torture,'
thought of erecti.

1 ut talent caussam Deo servaret. This was the recognised
expression when Bishops refused to give judgement, but remitted
(or reserved) it to God.

2 homicidae,

cone-

3o THE DIVISION IN AFRICA

In order to make this matter clear and beyond
doubt to all, we shall have to prove from what root the
branches of error have stretched themselves forth to
the present day, and from what fountain this your
rivulet of noxious water,1 creeping stealthily along,
has flowed down even to our times. We shall have
to point out whence, and where, and from whom this
evil of schism has arisen ; what were the causes which
met together 2 to produce it ; who were the persons
who effected it 3 ; who were the authors of this wicked
thing ; who fostered it ; by whom appeal was made
to the Emperor, that he should judge between the
parties ; who were they that sat in judgement ; where
the Council was held ; what were its decrees.

The question is about a Division. Now in Africa,
as in other parts of the world, the Church was One,
before it was divided by those who consecrated
Majorinus — whose Chair you have inherited, and now
occupy.4 We shall have to see who has remained in
the root, with the whole world 5 ; who went forth ;
who sits on a second chair, which had no existence before
the Schism 6 ; who has raised altar against altar ;
who has consecrated a Bishop when another was in
undisturbed possession ; who it is that lies under
the judgement of John, the Apostle, when he declared
that many Anti-Christs should go forth without,

' because they were not of us, for if they had been of us
they would have remained with us.' 7

rivulus iste maligni liquoris. 2 quae convenerint caussae.

quae fuerint operatae personae. (Cf. opeyarii, note 2, p. 13.)
cuius tu haereditariam cathedram sederis.

cum toto orbe, sc. Catholico. 6 Cf. S. Cyprian. Ep. xliii.

i John ii, 19.

THE WOMAN LUCILLA 31

Therefore, he who was unwilling to remain with
his brethren in unity 1 has followed the heretics, and
gone forth without, as an Anti-Christ.

No one is unaware that the Schism, after the con- xvi. The
secration of Caecilian, was effected at Carthage through LuciiTa °J
a certain mischief-making woman named Lucilla.
When the Church was still in tranquillity, before her
Peace had been disturbed by the storms of persecution,
this woman could not put up with the rebuke which
she received from the archdeacon Caecilian. It was
said that she kissed a bone of some martyr or other —
if he was a martyr — before she received the spiritual
Food and Drink. Having then been corrected for thus
touching — before she touched the Sacred Chalice — the
bone of a dead man (if he was a martyr, at least he
had not yet been acknowledged as such2), she went
away in confusion, full of wrath. This was the woman
upon whom, whilst she was angry and afraid that she
might fall under the discipline of the Church, on a
sudden, the storm of persecution broke.

It was at this time also that a deacon called Felix .

Mensunus

who had been summoned before the tribunals on when sum-
account of a much spoken-of letter which he had *thTcourt

entrusted

1 in uno (cf. John). JSntsof

8 necdum vindicate . Catholics in Africa were strictly forbidden the Church
to honour with religious worship any martyrs who had not been to certain
recognised as such (id est canonised = vindicate] . There were some, seniors-
who in a fit of fanatical enthusiasm had surrendered voluntarily
to the persecutors, thus bringing death upon themselves. Those
who had been guilty of this practice, which the Church never
tolerated, far from being considered martyrs, were looked upon by
Catholics as disobedient and self-destroyers.

32 THE ACTION OF MENSURIUS

written concerning the usurping Emperor,1 fearing his
danger, is said to have lain hidden in the house of
Bishop Mensurius. When Mensurius publicly refused to
give him up, an account of the matter was despatched.
A rescript came back that unless Mensurius would
surrender the deacon Felix, he should be himself sent
to the palace.2 On receiving this summons 3 he found
himself in no small difficulty, for the Church possessed
very many gold and silver ornaments, which he could
neither hide under ground, nor take away with him.
So he confided them to the care of some of the seniors,
whom he believed to be worthy of trust, not, however,
before he had made an inventory, which he is said
to have given to a certain old woman. He charged
her, that, when peace was restored to Christians, she
should hand this over, if he himself did not return
home, to whomsoever she found sitting on the
Bishop's Chair. He went away and pleaded his cause ;
he was commanded to return, but was not able to
reach Carthage.4

xvm. The storm of persecution passed over, and sub-

cratiorTof" sided. By the disposition of God, Maxentius sent

pardon, and liberty was restored to Christians. Botrus
thaC?"~The and Celestius — so it is said — wishing to be consecrated
cause^and Bishops at Carthage, arranged that, without inviting 5

ningof the j ^g iyYanno imperatore. These events took place in 311, when
Maxentius, who had made himself Emperor in Italy in 306, had
obtained possession of Africa. Under Constantine he was regularly
referred to as tyrannus.

2 adpalatium dingey etur. Dirigere in late Latin = to send.

3 conventus.

4 He died on the way.

5 operam dederunt ul absentibus Numidis. Literally ' in the

THE SEPARATION FROM CAECILIAN 33

the Numidians, only the neighbouring bishops should
be asked to perform the ceremony at Carthage.1
Then, by the vote of the whole people, Caecilian was
chosen, and was consecrated Bishop, Felix of Autumna
laying his hand upon him. Botrus and Celestius were
disappointed of their hope. The inventory of the gold
and silver, as had been ordered by Mensurius, was
handed over, in the presence of witnesses, to Caecilian,
who was now in possession of the See. The above-
mentioned seniors were summoned ; but they had
swallowed up in the jaws of their avarice, as booty,
that which had been entrusted to their keeping. When
they were commanded to make restitution, they with
drew from communion with Caecilian. The ambitious
intriguers, who had failed to obtain their consecration,
did likewise. Lucilla, too, that influential, mischief-
making woman,2 who had before been unwilling to
brook discipline, together with all her retainers,
separated herself from her Bishop. Thus wickedness
produced its effect through the meeting together 3 of
three different causes and sets of persons.

absence of the Numidians.' But the point is that Botrus and
Celestius chose not to invite them. This was part of what they
' arranged ' (operam dederunt}.

1 The Bishop of Carthage was not only Metropolitan of the
province of Africa Proconsularis, but also Primate of all Africa,
including Numidia, Byzacium and the two Mauritanias. As the
confines of Numidia came close to Carthage, it was customary for
the Bishops of that province to come to Carthage for the election.
The other provinces were too far off. On this occasion only the
nearest Bishops of Africa Proconsularis were assembled. But the
vote of the clergy and people of Carthage, approved by a number
of Bishops of the province, sufficed. The absence of the Numidians
did not affect the validity of the election.

2 potens et factiosa femina.

3 tribus convenientibus. Cf. ' quae convenerint caussae (' i, 15.)

34 THE TRIPLE CAUSE OF THE SCHISM

In this way it came to pass, that at that time the
Schism was brought to birth by the anger of a dis-
grace(l woman, was fed by ambition, and received its

Ma?onnusf stren§tn ^rom avarice.1

against It was by these three that the accusations were

concocted against Caecilian, so that his Consecration
might be declared void. They sent to Secundus of
Tigisis 2 to come to Carthage, whither the Betrayers,
of whom we have already made mention, proceeded.
They received hospitality — not from Catholics, at
whose request Caecilian had been consecrated 3 — but

1 Scisma igitur illo tempore confusae mulieris iracundia peperit,
ambitus nutrivit, avaritia roboravit. Here we find in combination
the lust of the flesh — (the shameless woman) — the pride of life —
(worldly ambition) — the lust of the eyes — (the love of gold) — as
the three co-operating causes of the Donatist Schism. Before the
mind of an English reader another sad schism will come with extra
ordinary vividness. History has repeated itself indeed — has shown
how the anger of another shameless woman (also potens et factiosa
femina, also in the end confusa), co-operating with the ambition
of worldly ecclesiastics, together with the lust of the eyes and
the lust of gold of a monarch, destroyed that ' parting gift of Peace '
from Christ our Lord, which had reigned amongst all English
Christians for more than a thousand years, and produced a Division,
over which we grieve to-day. If Optatus might, without breach
of charity, recall the memory of Lucilla, Majorinus, Botrus and
Celestius, we too may, in like manner, without reproach, remember
Anne, Cranmer, Henry and Elizabeth.

St. Augustine tells us (Ep. clxii) that a woman like Lucilla was
subsequently the cause of a schism within a schism — of a later
schism amongst the Donatists themselves.

2 Because he was Primate of Numidia. In the African Provinces
(excepting Proconsular Africa) the senior Bishop was Primate,
whatever his See.

3 St. Optatus does not mention the fact that Secundus had
seventy Bishops in his Council. But St. Augustine (Ep. xliii, 3, 7)
points out how hasty was Secundus : ' He should have had all the
more fear of violating the peace of unity, on account of the greatness
and fame of Carthage. If an evil started there, it vrould pour

CAECILIAN'S CHALLENGE 35

from the avaricious, from the ambitious, from those
who had been unable to govern their tempers. Not one
of them went to the Basilica, where all the people of
Carthage had assembled with Caecilian.1
Then Caecilian demanded :

' If there is anything to be proved against me, let the
accuser come out and prove it.'

Nothing could at that time be got up against him
by all these enemies of his ; they imagined, however,
that he might be blackened by his Consecrator being
falsely alleged to have been a Betrayer. So Caecilian
gave a second demand — that, since — so they thought
-Felix had bestowed nothing upon him, they should
themselves ordain him, as if he were still a deacon.2

itself over the whole of Africa, since it was near Italy and of great
celebrity. For this very reason its Bishop had a very great position
(non medwcns utique auctoritatis) , nor need he pay attention to
the numbers of enemies who conspired against him, when he saw
himself in union, by letters of communion, both with the Roman
Church, in which the princedom of the Apostolic Chair has always
flourished (in qua semper Apostolicae Cathedrae viguit principals}—
and with the rest of the world— whence the Gospel came to Africa
and where he was ready to plead his cause, should his adversaries
attempt to alienate those churches from him.' We may observe
that here we see once again the two proofs of a position of ecclesiastical
security, quite distinct, but actually inseparable, firstly to be in
communion with the Apostolic See of Rome, secondly to be in
communion with all other Catholic Bishops throughout the world.

* ad Basilicam, ubi cum Caeciliano tota civica frequentia fuerat.

- tanquam adhuc diaconum. Caecilian here argued after this
fashion : If you look upon me as still a deacon, on the ground of
my ordination as priest and consecration as Bishop having been
void, in consequence of Felix being a Betrayer, come and ordain
me yourselves. You ought to do this, on your own principles
since you cannot deny that I was duly elected to the See. Needless
to say, this was a challenge thrown out in sarcasm, which would
never under any circumstances have been acted upon by Caecilian,
even though it had been accepted by his adversaries. But of this

D 2

36 CAECILIAN'S TRIUMPH

Then Purpurius, relying upon his usual ribaldry, thus
spoke, as though Caecilian had been his sister's son * :

' Let him stand forth as if he were to be consecrated
Bishop, and let his head be well smacked in Penance.' 2

When the bearing of all this was seen, the whole
Church [of Carthage] retained Caecilian, in order not
to hand itself over to murderers.3

The alternatives were, either that he should be
expelled from his See as guilty, or that the Faithful
should communicate with him as innocent.

The church was crowded with people ; Caecilian
was sitting in his episcopal Chair ; the altar was set
up in its own place 4 — that very altar upon which

he knew that there was no danger. Yet then was their opportunity,
if they really had possessed any arguments against the validity
of the election of Caecilian to the See of Carthage. But they could
only take refuge in scurrility and insult.

1 Cf. ' Qui interrogatus de filiis sororis suae, quod eos necasse
diceretur ' (i, 13).

2 quassetur illi caput de Poenitentia. According to the ancient
discipline of the Church hands were laid upon the heads of those
who were admitted to Penance, but it was strictly forbidden to lay
hands thus upon the clergy, who had received the imposition of
hands in Ordination (cf. ii, 24 and Augustine Ep. 1). So now the
ribald Bishop is represented as saying : ' Let him come, we will
lay hands on him. We will box his ears for him.'

3 latronibus. Latro in Optatus seems always to signify a
murderer. (Cf. ii, 19 ; ii, 21 ; iii, 5 ; iii, 10 Latronem aut furem ;
v, 10, also Tertullian, De Pudicitia : ' Omne latrocinium extra silvam
homicidium est.')

4 erat altare loco suo. (Altare, sc. Episcopi.) African altars
appear to have been in the fourth century in general wooden and
moveable (for patterns see Dom CafoTol'sDictionnaireArchtologique,
and Smith and Cheetham's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities). ' In
its own place ' — i.e. in the Cathedral where the Catholic people had
been accustomed for generations to see their Bishop say Mass.
Optatus gives three visible signs, recognised by all the Faithful,
showing that Caecilian was the acknowledged Bishop of Carthage.
He was in possession of (a) the Cathedral Church (Basilica), (b) the

THE CONSECRATION OF MAJORINUS 37

Bishops acknowledged by all * had in past times offered
sacrifice — Cyprian, Carpophorius,2 Lucian and the
rest.

In this manner they went forth,3 and altar was raised
against altar ; and there was an unlawful consecration ;
and Majorinus, who had been lector when Caecilian was
archdeacon4 — Majorinus, a member of the household
of Lucilla — at her instigation, and through her bribes —
was consecrated Bishop by Betrayers, who in the
Numidian Council had (as we have already said)
acknowledged their crimes and granted pardon to one
another. It is, therefore, clear that both the Betrayers
who consecrated, and Majorinus who was consecrated,
went forth from the Church.5

Meanwhile, out of the fountain of their own crimes, xx. Th
which had gushed forth amongst them in channels 6 of
many kinds of wickedness, they thought that a single

one — that of Betrayal — might be spared 7 with which against

r ~ .,. Felix, the

to calumniate the consecrator of Caecilian. For, since, conse-
as they foresaw, slander would not be able to occupy
herself at the same time with two charges of a similar

Episcopal Chair (Cathedra episcopalis), (c) the Altar of his prede
cessors in the See.

1 pacifici. Bishops when Unity (Pax) prevailed. Cf. vii, 5 :
' dum docerent pacem, adhuc pacifici vocabantur . . . dividendo
Ecclesiam noluerunt esse pacifici.'

2 Carpophorius. This name is found only in PG.

3 Sic exitum est foras. In this way Majorinus and his party
went forth from the Church.

* qui lector in diaconio Caeciliani fuerat.
5 exisse de Ecclesia.

8 multorum flagitiorum venis. Cf. ' ne male fecundae vena periret
aquae.' (Ov. Trist.)

7 de fonte . . . unum traditionis convicium derivandum esse.

38 DONATIST CALUMNIES

nature, they endeavoured to blacken the life of another
man, that by this means they might consign their own
crimes to silence. And, through fear that they should
themselves be convicted by the innocent, they strove
to convict the innocent instead. To this end they
distributed on all sides a letter,1 inspired by their
hatred.2 (This letter we have placed, together with
the other Acts, in the Appendix.3)

As they were still at Carthage, they sent their
letters before them,4 that by untruthful reports they
might plant their falsehood in the ears of all. Rumour
spread the lie broadcast amongst the people. Thus,
whilst these calumnies were noised abroad about one
man only, their own most certain crimes were hidden
away in silence.

It often comes to pass that sin is blushed for, but
at that period there was no one for whom to blush,
since, with the exception of a few Catholics, all had
sinned,5 so the wickedness which had been committed
by many wore the cloak of innocence. The shame of
Betrayal, which admittedly had been committed by
Donatus of Mascula and the others whom we have
mentioned, seemed but of small account. To this
Betrayal they added the enormous wickedness of
schism.6

xxi. Therefore, my brother Parmenian, you see these

u°therevu two accusations — so evil, so terrible— of Betrayal and

of Schism,

of which ! litteras.

the Dona- 2 nvore, RB have liliore, Cochlaeus conjectures suo ore.

° This letter has been lost (cf< APPendix' P- 322).

4 praecesserunt se epistulis suis.

5 peccaverant, sc. had been guilty of Betrayal.
8 ingens fiagitium scismatis.

SCHISM THE CHIEF EVIL 39

Schism proved against your chiefs. Acknowledge,
though late, that you, in attacking others, have fallen
upon your own people. And whilst it is certain that
those who went before you worked this second abomina
tion, you too strive to follow them in their sin-stained
footsteps, so that you also have been doing for long,
and are even now doing, that of which your Fathers
were guilty in the beginning of the Schism.1 They in
their day broke peace ; you now banish unity.2 It
can be said with reason of your Fathers as well as of
yourselves, that, if the blind lead the blind, both
fall into the ditch.3 A raging malice blinded your
Fathers' eyes ; envy has robbed yours of sight. Even
you will not by any means be able to deny that schism
is the supreme evil.4

Yet, without fear, you have imitated Dathan,
Abiram and Korah, your shameless teachers,5 and you
have been unwilling to keep before your eyes the fact
that God has both forbidden this wickedness, and
gravely punished it when it has been committed.
Moreover, remember that the way in which sins are
either forgiven or punished shows that there are degrees
of guilt.

Now, by the Commandments of God, three things
are, amongst others, forbidden by Him. Thou shalt

1 in titulo scismatis.

2 exterminates unilatem. This expression is repeated in vii, 5.

3 Matt, xv, 4 ; Luke vii, 39.

4 scisma summum malum esse el vos negare minime poteritis
(cf. i, 13). St. Augustine writes (con. Ep. Par men. i, 4) : ' sacri-
legium scismatis quod omnia scelera supergreditur ' ; and (id. ii, 8) :
' Quod autem vos a totius orbis communione separates videmus
— quod scelus et maximum et manifestum est.' (Cf. note 4, p. 40.)

5 perditos magistros vestros. Perditos = abandoned, lost to all
sense of shame. Cf. ' perditorum multitudinem ' (vi, i).

40 THE GUILT OF MURDER AND IDOLATRY

not kill ; thou shalt not go after 1 strange gods, and
summing up the commands,2 thou shalt not commit
schism.

Let us see concerning these three, what should be
punished, and what it may be lawful to pardon.

Murder of kith is the chief sin.3 Nevertheless,
God did not strike Cain dead in his guilt, but declared
that He would punish any man who might be his
murderer. In the city of Nineve one hundred and
twenty thousand inhabitants sacrilegiously followed
after strange gods, but when, by the preaching of
Jonah the prophet, God had declared His anger, a
short period of fasting, together with prayer, obtained
their pardon. Let us see whether any such forgiveness
was granted to those who first of all ventured to divide
the people of God.4

God had placed over so many thousands of children
of Israel, from whose necks His Divine Providence had
cast away the yoke of servitude, one Priest, holy
Aaron. But his ministers, coveting and lawlessly
usurping a priesthood to which they had no right, and

1 non ibis post.

2 in capitibus mandatorum. Cf. Romans xiii, 9, where all the
sins against our neighbour are summed up as sins against the
command to love one's neighbour as oneself. Schism is pre
eminently a sin against the neighbour from whom the schismatic
separates himself.

3 parricidium est principale delictum.

* Cf. S. Aug. (De Baptis. con. Donat. i, 8) : ' Itaque illi quos
baptizant sanant a vulnere idololatriae, gravius feriunt vulnere
scismatis. Idololatras enim in populo Dei gladius interemit,
scismaticos autem terrae hiatus absorbuit.' No one can say
that the Fathers of the Church underestimated the guilt of
schism ! It must always be borne in mind that, according to the
constant teaching of the Fathers, sin in the Christian, a member
of the Body of Christ, is before God far more heinous than sin in
the unbaptised. (See St. Thomas, i, 2, qu. cvi, art. 2 ad. 2 ; 2, 2,
qu. x, art. 3 ad. 3.)

THE GUILT OF SCHISM 41

leading astray a part of the people, imitated the sacred
rites, and placed more than two hundred of their fol
lowers (who were to perish with them) — censers in their
hands — before the people whom they had led astray.
God, to whom schism is displeasing, could not see
this and let it pass ; they had, after a certain fashion,
declared war against God, as if there were a second
God,1 who would accept a second sacrifice. Therefore
God was wrathful with a mighty wrath, on account of
the schism which had been made, and what He had
not done in punishment of the sacrilegious and the
fratricide,2 that He did do in punishment of schismatics.
The army of ministers stood in array, and the sacri
legious host that (together with its forbidden sacrifices)
was to perish in an instant. The opportunity for
penance was denied them and withdrawn, for this
was not the kind of sin that should deserve pardon.
The earth was commanded to hunger after its food.
Forthwith it opened its jaws for those who had divided
the people, and with eager mouth swallowed them up
that had despised the commandments of God. Within
the space of one moment the earth opened to devour
them, seized her victims, was shut once again, and,
so that they might not appear to reap any benefit
from the suddenness of their death, it was not allowed
these men who were unworthy to live even to die.
Of a sudden they were shut in the prison of Hell,
and were buried there before they died.

And yet you wonder that something of similar
severity has been done against you — you who either
cause or approve schism, although you see here what

1 Cf. iii, ii ; v, 3. - in parricidam.

42 QUID CHRISTIANIS CUM REGIBUS ?

they, who compassed the first schism, deserved to
suffer ! Or is it because punishment of this kind has
now ceased, that on this account you claim innocence
for yourself and for your party ? In each of these
occurrences, God has set forth a model by examples l
of the punishment that will come to their imitators.
The first sins He has put an end to with punishment,
as an example for all time. The sins that come after
He will reserve for His Judgement. What have you
to say to this, you, who having usurped the name of
the Church, both secretly foster and without shame
defend the schism ?

TheLetter * kear ^^ some of your party, in their love of
of the disputation, produce documents. But we have to ask

Donatist , . . r ,, ,, - . ...

Bishops which of these are worthy of trust, which are in
Emperor accordance with reason, which agree with the truth 2 ?

^ may ^e ^^ Your documents — if indeed you have
IskiCforhey any — w^ ^e found to be stained with falsehoods.
judges of Our documents are proved to be true by the rival
arguments and pleadings of the parties, by the final
judgements, and by the letters of Constantine.
With regard to that which you ask of us :

' What have Christians to do with kings, or Bishops
with the palace ? '

If it be a crime 3 to be acquainted with kings,
the whole of the odium falls upon you, for your

1 exemplorum posuit formam.

- confibulent. RBG have confabulent, vb confdbulentur. Casau-
bon conjectures confibulentur . Confibulare is a Low Latin word
for to buckle to (from Fibula] — literally here, ' buckle on to the
truth.'

3 si nota est.

DONATIST APPEAL TO CONSTANTINE 43

fathers Lucianus, Dignus, Nasutius, Capito, Fidentius
and the rest, when the Emperor Constantine was still
without any knowledge of these affairs, addressed a
petition to him, of which I will transcribe a copy 1 :

' O Constantine, most excellent Emperor, since thou
dost come of a just stock, and thy father (unlike other
Emperors) did not persecute Christians,2 and Gaul is free
from this wickedness, we beseech thee that thy piety may
command that we be granted judges from Gaul ; for be
tween us and other Bishops in Africa disputes have arisen ;
Given by Lucianus, Dignus, Nasutius, Capito, Fidentius
and the rest of the Bishops who adhere to Donatus.' 3

1 precibus rogaverunt, quarum exemplum infrascriptum esl.
Cf. S. Aug. Ep. Iii, 5 ; Ixxvi, 2.

2 Constantine Chlorus had the command of Gaul as Caesar,
and, being almost a Christian, did not put the decrees of persecution
in force.

3 et celeris Episcopis partis Donati. Mgr. Duchesne (Le Dossier
du Donatisme, p. 25) (who takes for granted the existence of Donatus,
Bishop of Black Huts, see note 3, p. 45) thinks that either these
words did not belong to the original document and were added by
Optatus as a resume of the signatures, or that Optatus deliberately
(' se soit cru permis d'y substituer ') changed the word Maiorini to
Donati, since by the time when Optatus wrote, pars Donati had
become the usual and recognised designation of the Donatist party .
Du Pin had already made the same suggestion (' ipse Optatus nomen
notius substituit in locum antiqui '). But neither Du Pin nor
Duchesne can have adverted to the fact that Optatus later on
(iii, 3) founds an argument in two separate passages upon the use
which he supposed the Donatist clerics to have made of the
expression partis Donati in this petition. The difficulty concerning
the employment of these words at this period is twofold, (i) The
party could hardly have been yet termed pars Donati. We do not
hear of any Donatus as in any sense their leader until the Synod
under Miltiades. (2) We read in the Gesla Coll. Carthag.
(diei iii, ccxxx) that two libelli were sent to Constantine, the first
of which was endorsed ' Libellus Ecclesiae Catholicae criminum
Caeciliani traditus a parte Maiorini ' (cf. also S. Aug. Ep. Ixxxviii).
For those who believe that Majorinus was dead and Donatus was
Bishop of Carthage before the Synod under Miltiades commenced

CONSTANTINE'S WRATH

XXIII.

The

answer of
Cons tan-
tine. He
appointed
Judges to
meet at
Rome.

After having read this letter, Constantine replied
with much anger. And in his rescript he testified to
the matter of their petition in the words :

' You ask a judgement from me in this world, although
I myself am waiting for the Judgement of Christ in the
next.' l

(see note 3, p. 45) the objection raised against the words Partis Donati
would at once vanish, were it not for the second difficulty — the
difficulty arising from the fact that the Gesta Collationis Cartha-
giensis and the testimony of St. Augustine prove beyond dispute
that this document was presented ex parte Maiorini. ' Quinto loco
haec acta sunt. Recitatae sunt duae relationes . . . una quae
ostendit Maiores Donatistarum id est de parte Maiorini ' (Brev. coll.
diet tert. xii). Balduinus falls back on the ingenious hypothesis that
the first document was endorsed de parte Maiorini, the second
de parte Donati. But unfortunately for this view St. Augustine
(id.) gives a brief summary of this second document, which shows
that it was by no means identical with that set out by St. Optatus.
After everything has been weighed, we can only suppose either that
(as seems to me most probable) the copy (exemplurri) seen by
Optatus really contained the words partis Donati, or that he wrote
from memory and through a slip (not unnatural under the circum
stances of his time and place) wrote Donati when, if his memory
had not played him tricks, or rather if he had scrutinised his
original more carefully, he would have written Maiorini. We know
that on several occasions he made similar slips when quoting from
Holy Scripture.

Dom John Chapman writes as follows : (Donatus the Great
and Donatus of Casae Nigrae, Rev. Benedictine, Janvier 1909) :
' The Bishops who appealed to Constantine were Lucian, Dignus,
Nasutius, Capito, Fidentius and others. There is no Donatus and no
Majorinus among the five whose names are preserved. St. Optatus
calls them proleptically the Pars Donati, but the Proconsul in his
letter to the Emperor called them the Pars Maiorini [see Appendix,
p. 421]. As the name of Majorinus does not occur in the first place,
he may have just died, and Donatus will have taken his place before
the ten accusers started for Rome. The Council was in that case
a trial of the two claimants Donatus and Caecilian. The one was
acquitted, the other condemned, This is a natural sequence . '

1 See Appendix, p. 396.

These words were written by Constantine after the Council of

THE COUNCIL UNDER POPE MILTIADES 45

Nevertheless, he granted them judges — Maternus
from the city of Cologne, Reticius from the city of
Autun, Marinus of Aries. These three Bishops from
Gaul and fifteen others, who were Italians, arrived in
Rome. They met in the House of Fausta on the
Lateran, on the second of October which was a Friday,
in the year when Constantine for the fourth, and
Licinius for the third time, were Consuls.1

There were present Miltiades,2 Bishop of the city
of Rome, and Reticius, Maternus and Marinus, Bishops
from Gaul, and Merocles of Milan, Florianus of Sinna,
Zoticus of Quintianum, Stennius of Ariminum, Felix
from Florence of the Tuscans, Gaudentius of Pisa,
Constantius of Faenza, Proterius of Capua, Theophilus
of Beneventum, Sabinus of Terracina, Secundus of
Preneste, Felix of the Three Taverns, Maximus of
Ostium, Evandrus of Ursinum and Donatianus of
Criolo.

When these nineteen Bishops had taken their seats xxiv.

together, the case of Donatus and that of Caecilian onittaiof

were brought forward. This judgement was passed b
against Donatus3— by each of the Bishops— that he

Aries. Optatus (who never mentions and probably knew nothing
of that Council, cf. Appendix, p. 323) inserts them here in error.

1 Constantino quater et Licinio ter consulibus. St. Augustine,
however, writes (post Coll. xxxiii) : ' Melchiades iudicavit Con
stantino ter et Licinio iterum consulibus.'

2 Often called Melchiades, Pope from 311 to 314.

3 in Donatum. Was this Donatus the Great, or another Donatus,
Bishop of Black Huts (de Casis Nigris) in Numidia ? It is im
possible to answer this question with absolute certainty. On the
one hand it was assumed by Optatus, Augustine and Catholic
Apologists generally until the Conference in 411 that the Donatus
condemned by Pope Miltiades was Donatus the Great, the successor

46 THE GUILT OF DONATUS

acknowledged having both rebaptised, and laid his
hand in Penance upon Bishops who had fallen away —

of Majorinus as schismatic bishop of Carthage. The authority
of St. Optatus — so at least it seems to me — should go far to settle
the controversy, since it is difficult to understand how he could well
have confused two distinct Bishops of the same name one with
another. Optatus lived, one would think, too near the events
which he was chronicling to have made a mistake of this character.
On the other hand when the Donatists protested at the Conference
of Carthage that the Donatus condemned at Rome was not their
protagonist, ' he who was and still is their chief ' (Gesta Coll.
Carthag. diet Hi, xxxii), but another Donatus (' alium Casae,' Gesta
Coll. Carthag. dxxxix, dxl), the Catholics at once admitted that
Donatus of Casa was clearly designated in the Acts of Miltiades.
St. Augustine bears witness to this fact, stating that the Catholics
granted (concedebant) the Donatist contention that ' it was not
Donatus the Great but Donatus of Casa who pleaded in the Court
of Melchiades against Caecilian ' (Brev. coll. dieiiii, xx). Moreover
Augustine writes as follows (Retract, xxi) : ' In saying that the Donatus
whose letter I was answering had asked the Emperor to appoint
judges from across the seas between him and Caecilian I was mis
taken, for it was not he but another Donatus (who however belonged
to the same schism) that will be found more probably to have done
this. He was not the Donatist Bishop of Carthage, but of Black
Huts, and was the first to make the wicked schism at Carthage.'
Until recently this view reigned practically undisputed. Only
Albaspinaeus was found to challenge the authority of St. Augustine
by conjecturing that Majorinus, of whom we never hear in con
nection with the Lateran Synod, was dead at the time (this is held
to be certain by Dom John Chapman) and that Donatus of Black
Huts had been elected Bishop in his place. But the very existence
of a Donatus who was ever Bishop of Black Huts has been lately
called in question, in the first place by Fr. Chapman, and subse
quently by others. Thus Mr. Sparrow Simpson writes (St. Augustine
and African Church Divisions, p. 31), referring to Monceaux (Revue
de I'Histoire de Religion) : ' it has been recently pointed out that
the former personage [Donatus of Black Huts] is a highly proble
matical figure. He appears at the Lateran Synod. While he is
called Bishop of Black Huts in Numidia, he is never heard of as
residing in his own diocese, but at Carthage. After the Lateran
Synod he disappears and is replaced by a Donatus who holds precisely
the same position over the party.' The theory of Albaspinaeus,

THE INNOCENCE OF CAECILIAN 47

a thing foreign to the Church.1 Donatus brought forth
his witnesses ; they admitted that they had nothing
of which they could accuse Caecilian. Caecilian was
pronounced innocent by the sentence of all the above-
named Bishops ; also by the sentence of Miltiades,
by which the matter was closed, and judgement
pronounced in these words 2 :

if adopted, would remove these difficulties, but it involves the
supposition that there were two Bishops of Carthage, immediately
following one another and each named Donatus. For this sup
position there is not a scrap of evidence. Moreover such a trans
lation from one See to another as is here supposed would have been
directly opposed to the Canons in force at the time, and if it had been
effected would certainly have been one of the staple charges against
the Donatists. But of this there is not a trace in history. Fr.
Chapman solves the whole difficulty with the simplicity of genius by
a reasoned argument (La Revue Bbntdictine, Janvier 1909) directed
to show that Casae Nigrae was not the See, but the birthplace, of
the Great Donatus. In the same article he suggests a most
interesting explanation of the surprising readiness with which the
Catholics at the Conference of Carthage admitted the Donatist
contention that their eponymous champion had not been con
demned at Rome. However after all has been said, the whole of
this matter will remain at least for some minds hidden in obscurity,
and it is difficult to see from what quarter we may look for further
light. Meanwhile we must all agree with Fr. Chapman that ' the
importation of a Bishop of Casae Nigrae only brings confusion into
[what would otherwise be] a plain tale.' I myself think that, were
Professor Ziwsa still alive, he would gladly bow to Fr. Chapman's
authority and arguments and remove the name of Donatus
Casensis (at least as a person distinct from Donatus Carthaginis)
from the index to any subsequent edition of his Optatus.

1 quod ab Ecclesia alienum est.

2 etiam Miltiadis sententia, qua iudicium clausum est his verbis.
These words of St. Optatus remind us of St. Augustine's famous
statement (Serm. cxxxi, 10) : ' Already two councils have been sent
to the Apostolic See concerning this matter [Pelagianism], and
thence have come rescripts. The case is concluded (caussa finita
est). Would that the error might soon cease also.' St. Augustine's
account of the matter with which St. Optatus is concerned in the
text is well worth reading, since he (like St. Optatus) had documents

48 THE JUDGEMENT OF MILTIADES

' Since it is certain that those who came with Donatus
have failed to accuse Caecilian in accordance with their
undertaking, and since it is also certain that Donatus
has not proved him guilty on any count, I judge that,
according to his deserts, he be maintained in the

which have not come down to us : ' Will you urge that Melchiades,
Bishop of the Roman Church, with his colleagues across the seas was
not right in arrogating for his own judgement (non debuit . . .
sibi usurpare iudicium) a case which had been concluded by seventy
African Bishops under the presidency of the primate of Tigisis ?
But what if it was not he who arrogated it ? It was, in fact, because
he had been requested, that the Emperor sent Bishops to sit with
him, and to decide what they considered to be just with regard to
the whole case. This we prove both by the petition of the Donatists
and by the Emperor's own words ; for you will remember that both
these documents were read to you, and you have now permission
to inspect them and copy them out' (Ep. xliii, 5, 14). (See
Appendix for the Emperor's letters.) St. Augustine is not, of course,
suggesting that the Pope had no right to judge the affair, any
more than he is implying that the Emperor had a right to appoint
judges. The argument is strictly ad hominem. The Donatists
could not complain that Melchiades had no right to reverse the
judgement of seventy Numidian Bishops, since they had themselves
appealed to the Emperor to appoint Bishops to judge the matter
anew. They admitted, therefore, that the Numidian judgement was
not irreformable. Further on in the same letter St. Augustine
continues : ' And yet what a final sentence that was which the
blessed Melchiades himself pronounced, how innocent, how honest,
how far-sighted and peace-loving, in that he did not venture to
remove from their position in the episcopal fellowship those
colleagues against whom nothing had been proved, whilst he laid
the chief blame upon Donatus alone (whom he had discovered to be
the author of all the evil), but gave the free option of recovering
communion to the rest, since he was ready to issue letters of com
munion even to those who were known to have been ordained by
Majorinus, in such wise that, wherever, on account of the dissension
between the two parties, there were two rival Bishops, the one
who had been first ordained should be confirmed in his see, and the
other should be provided with an other diocese. O admirable man,
O son of Christian peace, and father of the Christian people '
(Ep. xiii, 5. 16). We may observe that from this time forward the
Popes issued their decretal letters from a small council of Bishops.

THE REQUEST OF DONATUS 49

communion of the Church, continuing to hold his position
unimpaired.' l

It is, therefore, sufficient, that Donatus was con- xxv.
demned by the verdict of so many Bishops, and that ^Stine°n~
Caecilian was cleared by the judgement of so great theCapedeai
an authority.2 Yet Donatus thought well to appeal, of Donatus
To this appeal the Emperor Constantine replied in Roman

,, , judge-

these words : ment.

' Oh, mad daring of their fury ! A Bishop has thought
fit to appeal to us, as is done in the lawsuits of the Pagans.' 3

At the same time Donatus also asked that he might xxvi.
be allowed to return, and promised that he would not
go to Carthage.4 Then it was suggested to the Emperor

Roman
Synod.

1 Ziwsa remarks that it is not known from what source St.
Optatus derived this summary of the judgement of Pope Melchiades.

2 Of the Pope.

3 Constantine wrote these words in answer to the appeal of the
Donatists after the Council of Aries. They are to be found in the
same document from which Optatus has already quoted in
chapter xxiii (Appendix, p. 397).

4 petiit, ut ei reverti licuissel el nee ad Carthaginem accederet (PG) .
Ziwsa, however, prints asterisks * * * between licuisset and ad
Carthaginem and suggests that Ad ea mandalum, ne should be
inserted after licuisset, RBv have revertenii ad Carthaginem con-
tingeret, which cannot be translated. The version read at the Con
ference at Carthage in 411 was the same as that of PG without the
nee. ' Donatus asked that he might return and go to Carthage.'
It was this version which afforded the Donatists their opportunity
of pretending that Constantine had given Donatus leave to go to
Carthage and kept Caecilian at Brescia, but we shall see immediately
that when Caecilian heard that Donatus had gone to Carthage, he
left Brescia and went there himself. It is this fact that makes it
probable either that the nee in PG was in the original text of Optatus,
or that some such emendation as that of Ziwsa must be adopted.

50 DECREE OF

by Fiiuminus his advocate,1 that, for peace' sake,
Caecilian should be detained at Brescia — and so it was
done.2 Then two Bishops were sent to Africa, Euno-
mius and Olimpius, to do away with the dual Bishops
and establish a single one.3 They came, and remained
at Carthage forty days, that they might declare where
was the Catholic Church.4 The seditious party of
Donatus could not endure this, and every day noisy
uproars were made through party spirit.

Eventually these Bishops, Eunomius and Olim
pius, delivered their final decree to the effect that the
Catholic Church 5 was that which was dispersed all over

1 suffragatore.

2 Cf. S. Aug. Brev, coll. xx, 38.

3 ut remotis duobus unum or dinar ent RBvb. P has ut remotis
binis singulos ordinarent. Du Pin has removed the sentence from
his text, (as I think,) quite unwarrantably in the face of the MSS.
authority.

4 ubi esset Catholica.

5 ut dicerent illam esse Catholicam, quae esset in toto orbe terrarum
diffusa. This definition is really an etymological one ; it became
famous in the Donatist controversy, and is frequently cited and
referred to by St. Augustine.

(a) TI KadoXutrj 'EKK\r)o-ia or Ecclesia Calholica almost always
means, in the Fathers, the Church militant on earth at the time when
they wrote. Thus even at the beginning of the second century
the word Catholic is used by St. Ignatius (Ep. ad Smyrn. 8) for the
true Church throughout the world, in contrast with heretical sects.
It is also found four times in The Letter of the Church of Smyrna
on the Martyrdom of the holy Polycarp : Trjs ayias KOL KadoXtKijs
' EKK\r)<rias (ad init.} ', TTJS Kara TTJV oiKovfjievrjv Ka6o\iKr)s 'EKK.\r)o~ias

(viii, xix) ; Trjs fv 2p.vpvr] KaBoXiK^s 'EKK\r)o-{as.

(b) The word ' Church ' is sometimes used in another sense to
denote the Church on earth in all times and places, and the epithet
Catholic is still strictly in place. For example, later in the second
century St. Clement of Alexandria wrote as follows (Strom. VII,
xvii, 1 06, 107) : — ' It needs no long discourse to prove that the
merely human assemblies which they have instituted were later
in time than the Catholic Church. . . . We say then that the ancient

EUNOMIUS AND OLIMPIUS 51

the world, and that the Judgement of the nineteen

and Catholic Church stands alone . . . gathering together into the
unity of the One Faith, built upon the fitting covenants or rather
upon the one Covenant given at different times, all those who have
been already therein enrolled ' etc.

(c) The Church is also said to include not only her children on
earth, but also the holy dead. Thus St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei xx, 9) :
' Neither are the souls of the holy dead separated from the Church,
which even now is the Kingdom of Christ.' In this most compre
hensive sense the epithet Catholic is rarely (if ever) applied to the
word ' Church.' Should any case perchance exist where a Father
so employs the word Catholic, it would be ' less properly ' (as opposed
to the general patristic usage) — in the sense that the Blessed souls
in Heaven and in Purgatory belonged to the Catholic Church when
they were living on earth. It seems well to note this, because there
has sometimes been confusion on the point amongst Non-Catholic
writers. For example Dr. Darwell Stone (The Christian Church
p. 214) philosophises concerning ' two ideas of the unity of the
Church which St. Augustine failed to reconcile,' and boldly writes
as follows : ' that notion of the nature and unity of the Church
which may be illustrated from Clement of Alexandria and from
Origen, but also from St. Augustine, which lays stress on the union
of the church militant with the departed and with those yet unborn,
and which finds points of contact amongst living Christians in the
unseen realities, is not really allowed for in the Roman Catholic
doctrine.' Of course it is pure imagination to fancy that there
were two opposing views in the minds of the Fathers, striving for
the mastery, which ' Augustine failed to reconcile,' but which
eventually emerged the one in ' Ultramontanism,' the other in some
such system as Anglicanism. But there are two ways of looking at
the Church, as we regard it from different aspects. We find both
of these, as we should naturally expect, in the Fathers. There is
the ordinary patristic view, with which St. Optatus for example
makes us so familiar, of one Body upon earth, not merely local,
but scattered throughout the world, with its members all joined
together, one with each other, in an actual, visible, external com
munion. (This on Anglican theories is admittedly not a necessity,
but only a desirable dream-picture.) There is also, no doubt, to be
found in the Fathers a conception of the Church as an ideal unity
of all the redeemed on earth and in heaven, united by the mystical
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But far from these being mutually
exclusive views between which the Fathers oscillate, they are two
different entities, each of which represents a great reality, not merely
' allowed for,' but much more — apprehended by ' the Roman

52 ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Bishops which had already been delivered could not
be upset.1 Accordingly they communicated with the

Catholic ' as keenly now as in any age of the Church's history. The
latter of these, however, is not what the Fathers mean by ' the
Catholic Church,' but is the whole Church of the Redeemed — whose
' names are written in heaven ' — now in fieri, only to be realised at
the Last Day. The former is the Church militant, the Catholic
Church, diffused throughout the world (as its name implies) and
nowhere else. It is of this visible Catholic Church that the Fathers
predicate unity, not merely as a quality, but as an essential quality,
and a visible ' note ' or characteristic by which (in conjunction with
her existence everywhere, or her Catholicity) she is to be instantly
recognised. This is the meaning of the definition of Eunomius
and Olimpius (as given by St. Optatus), which cut at the root of
the Donatist question. On the one side stood a great number of
African bishops. On the other side was Caecilian with (probably)
but few colleagues in Africa, but in communion with all the rest
of the Catholic world. So seventy African Bishops, even with the
Primate Secundus, were of no importance, for over against them
was ' the Catholic Church.' It is exactly the same touchstone as
St. Cyril of Jerusalem had given when he told his hearers to ask
in every city not for the Kvpia<r] (the house of God, or Church), but
for ' the Catholic Church,' — the same touchstone that St. Pacian
gave against the Novatians, when he said ' Christian is my name,
Catholic is my surname.' The visible unity of one visible Church
throughout the world is the presupposition and the teaching of all
the Fathers. This is seen perhaps with special clearness in this
Donatist controversy. But at all times and everywhere the patristic
conception of the Church and of Schism is, apart from this presup
position, wholly unintelligible.

(d) There is yet another distinction made by St. Augustine against
the Donatists between the Catholic Church on earth, in which good
and evil men are living together, and the Church of the Saints after
the General Judgement. It is, he writes, One Holy Church, but
after a different fashion (aliter). The state of the Church now was
typified by the miraculous draught of fishes before the Resurrection
when the nets were cast on the left hand as well as on the right — and
were broken ; the state of the Church hereafter by the draught after
the Resurrection, when the nets were cast only on the right side —
and remained unbroken. (Cf. Brev. Coll. iii, 9, 10.)

1 St. Augustine (con. Epist. Parmen. iii, 3) summed up the
decision of Eunomius and Olimpius in the celebrated words :
' Quapropter securus iudicat orbis terrarum bonos non esse qui

THE RETURN OF THE RIVAL BISHOPS 53

clergy of Caecilian, and went their way. All this we
can prove from the written Acts which any who please
may read in our Appendix.1 When these things
had taken place, Donatus was the first to return to
Carthage, unasked. Caecilian, on hearing this news,
hastened back to his own people. In this way the
schism was planted anew. But the fact remains that
so many Bishops had by their Judgement condemned
Donatus, and had also pronounced the innocence of
Caecilian.

But since two persons on the Catholic side had xxvu.
been for some time accused in this matter — the con- Searing
secrated and the Consecrator— even after the conse-
crated had been acquitted at Rome, it still remained
for the Consecrator to be declared guiltless. Then
Constantine wrote to Aelianus, the pro-consul, to lay

se dividunt ab orbe terrarum in quacunque parte orbis terrarum.'
' Wherefore the [Catholic] world judges without anxiety that they
are not good who in any part of the world separate themselves from
the [Catholic] world.' (Cf. note 6, p. 63.)

1 These Acts have unfortunately been lost (cf. Appendix, p. 321).
St. Augustine writes (Brev. coll. xii, 24) : ' Atque inde ex ordine
coepit etiam episcopale iudicium Melchiadis Romani Episcopi et
aliorum cum illo Gallorum et Italorum Episcoporum in eadem
Urbe Roma factum, cuius iudicii prima parte, id est gestis primae
diei recitatis, ubi accusatores Caeciliani, qui missi f uerant, negaverunt
se habere quod in eum dicerent ; ubi etiam Donatus a Casis Nigris
in praesenti convictus est, adhuc diacono Caeciliano [that is in the
days of Mensurius, when Donatus the Great was probably, like
Caecilian, still a deacon, and far more likely to cause trouble at
Carthage than any Bishop of Casae Nigrae in Numidia] scisma
fecisse Carthagine : de Carthaginis enim scismate exorta est adversus
Ecclesiam pars Donati.' From this we learn that the Acts of the
first session of the Lateran Synod were read at the Conference of 411,
but here once more we have to deplore the loss of the full minutes
of the latter part of the proceedings.

54 INQUIRY INTO CHARGES AGAINST FELIX

aside his public duties and make public inquiry into
the life of Felix of Autumna.1

The appointed officer took his seat. The witnesses
were Claudius Saturianus,2 a state commissioner, who
had been in the city of Felix all through the time of
the persecution, and had been a commissioner when
he was impeached, Callidius Gratianus and Alfius
Caecilianus the magistrate ; also Superius the Warder
was summoned, and Ingentius the public notary, who
was in constant fear of the torture with which he was
threatened. By the evidence of all it was ascertained
that there was nothing that could disgrace the life
of Felix the Bishop.3

The Volume of Acts is in existence in which are
recorded the names of those who had been present at
the trial, Claudius Saturianus the official, and Caecilianus
the Magistrate, and Superius the Warder, and Ingentius
the Notary, and Solon a public official of the time.
After they had given their replies, the above-mentioned
pro-consul gave his Judgement, of which this is a part :

1 See Appendix, p. 327. We know that Aelianus conducted
the inquiry ; we know also from St. Augustine (Ep. Ixxxviii ; con.
Cresc. iii, 81) that Constantino wrote a letter to Probianus, the
successor of Aelianus. But Duchesne writes (p. 12) that Aelianus
in the text is probably a mistake for Aelius Paulinus, the Vicar of
Africa, ' qui se mit en mouvement pour executer 1'ordre imperial.'

2 Called Saturninus by St. Augustine, Ep. Ixxxviii. (Cf. p. 426,
note i.)

3 nihil tale inventum est, quod vitam Felicis Episcopi sordidare
potuisset P. For sordidare RBGv have ordinare, which evidently
must be wrong. Accordingly Cochlaeus conjectured deordinare,
and Du Pin in vita Felicis Episcopi, propter quod ordinare non
potuisset. If Du Pin had seen P, he would never have hazarded this
guess, of which he says : ' Nos restituimus hunc locum partim ex
coniectura, partim ex auctoritate MSS,' and explains that all the
MSS which he had been able to consult have ordinare.

HIS VINDICATION 55

'That Felix, the holy Bishop, is guiltless of having
burned the divine Books,1 is clear from the fact that no
one was able to prove anything against him — neither that
he had given up nor burned the most sacred Scriptures.
For all the above-mentioned witnesses proved clearly that
none of the divine Writings had been either discovered,
or injured or burned. It is shown by the Acts that the
holy Bishop Felix was not present at that time, and that
he was neither privy to any such crime, nor commanded
it to be done.'

And so he left the court, cleared of every stain upon
his reputation and wonderfully praised. Up to that
time men did not know what to think of him, and he
had walked under a dark cloud, caused by the breath
of hatred and jealousy, whilst truth lay hid. And
besides, every document, mentioned either in the Acts
or in the letters which we have mentioned or read,
was disclosed.2

You see, my brother Parmenian, that you have xxvm.
assaulted Catholics to no purpose — falsely nicknaming this First
them Betrayers, changing the names of those who were I
concerned, and transferring their deeds. You have
shut your eyes, that you might not recognise the guilt
of your fathers ; you have opened them to cast
accusations upon the innocent and blameless.3 You
have stated everything according to what is opportune,

1 liberum esse ab exustione strumentorum deificorum.

2 revelata. B has renovata.

3 innocenies et indignos criminose pulsares P (so Ziwsa) . RBvb
read indignos crimini copulares = ' to link with crime those who
deserve it not.'

56 PARMENIAN'S ATTACKS FAIL

nothing according to what is true ; so that it was of
you that the most Blessed Apostle Paul said :

' Some have turned aside to vain-speaking, desiring to
be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they
say nor of whom they say it.'1

We have just now proved that your fathers 2 were
Betrayers and schismatics ; yet you, who are their heir,
have not wished to spare either schismatics or Betrayers,
so that by the proofs which we have alleged, all the
darts which you mistakenly wished to hurl against
others have glanced back — warded off by the shield of
truth — to strike your fathers. Everything, then, which
you have been able to say against Betrayers and
schismatics, belongs to yourselves, for we have nothing
to do with any of it, — we who both remain in the Root,
and are joined, with all, in the whole [Catholic] 3 world.

1 i Tim. i, 5, 6. 2 parentes.

3 Cf. illam esse Catholicam, quae esset in toto orbe terrarum diffusa
(i, 26).

BOOK THE SECOND

WHICH is THE ONE TRUE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND
WHERE is IT TO BE FOUND ? THE FIVE ENDOW
MENTS OF THE CHURCH BELONG TO CATHOLICISM,
NOT TO THE SCHISM. THE DONATISTS HAVE BEEN
GUILTY OF SHAMELESSLY SCRAPING THE HEADS
OF PRIESTS, AND OF MURDERS, OF GIVING THE
EUCHARIST TO DOGS, AND OF CASTING AWAY
THE HOLY CHRISM.

WE have shown who were the Betrayers, and have i. which
pointed out the origin of the Schism in such a manner is the
that we have almost seen it take place before our church0?

eyes.1 The difference between heresy and schism has

also been explained. It is now our business to show the world.

(as we promised that we would do in the second place)

which is the One Church, called by Christ His Dove

and His Bride.2

The Church, then, is One, and her holiness is not
measured by the pride of individuals,3 but is derived

1 ut paene oculis perspecta videatur. St. Augustine may have
had these words before his mind, when he wrote of the martyrdom
of St. Stephen : ' Hanc passionem modo de libro Actuum Aposto-
lorum cum legitur, non solum audivimus sed etiam oculis spectavi-
mus ' (Sermo ii de Sancto Stephana}.

8 In the Canticle of Canticles.

3 The Donatists, like the Cathari, the Puritans and many other
sectaries, prided themselves (without the slightest justification in

58 PARMENIAN'S FUTILE CLAIMS

from the Sacraments. It is for this reason that she
alone is called by Christ His Dove and His own beloved
Bride.

The Church cannot be amongst all the heretics
and schismatics.1 It follows that [according to you]
she must be in one place only.2

You, my brother Parmenian, have said that she
is with you alone. This, I suppose, can only be because,
in your pride, you strive to claim some special holiness
for yourselves, so that the Church may be where it
pleases you, and may not be where it pleases you not.
And so, in order that she may be with you in a little
piece of Africa, in a corner of one small region, is she
not to be with us in another part of Africa ? Is she
not to be in Spain, in Gaul, in Italy, where you are
not ? If you maintain that she is with you only, is
she not to be in Pannonia, in Dacia, Moesia, Thrace,
Achaia, Macedonia and in all Greece, where you are
not ? In order that you may be able to argue that

fact) upon their sanctity. According to their teaching, the true
Church was to be exclusively the Church of ' the Saints.' There
were to be no unclean beasts in the Ark of Noah. The tares were
not to be allowed to grow up with the wheat unto the harvest ; nor
were the bad fish to remain with the good in Peter's net. Further
more, they made the validity of the sacraments depend upon the
supposed holiness of the minister, not upon the operation of the
Holy Ghost.

1 Evidently the idea of Comprehensiveness — that the One Church
could be Catholic (Universal) — in the sense of comprehending
various kinds of religious bodies, varying in belief and without
any external bond of union (cf . ii, 3) — never occurred to St. Optatus
even as a possibility. Any ' branch ' theory in which the branches
were separated from the trunk or from one another (cf. ii, 9 etc.)
would have seemed to him unthinkable. He agrees with Par
menian in ruling it out ab initio.

2 Because no heretics or schismatics were to be found as an
organised body in more than one territory.

MEANING OF THE WORD ' CATHOLIC ' 59

she is with you, is she not to be in Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Pamphylia, Phrygia, Cilicia and in the
three Syrias, and in the two Armenias, and in all
Egypt and in Mesopotamia, where you are not ? And
is she not to be throughout innumerable islands and
so many other provinces which can hardly be counted,
where you are not ? 1

Where in that case will be the application of the
Catholic Name,2 since on this very account was the
Church called Catholic, because she is in accordance
with reason, and is scattered all over the world ? 3

1 In some of the countries mentioned by Optatus as belonging
to the Catholic Unity, Christianity has almost disappeared as an
energising force. Others of those lands, such as ' Thrace, Achaia,
Macedonia, and all Greece,' are now unhappily in schism. Still,
his argument has been enormously strengthened by the lapse of
centuries. The Catholic of to-day is in full communion not only,
as was St. Optatus, with the See of Rome where Peter sat, with
the See of Lyons where Irenaeus sat, with the See of Barcelona
where Pacian sat, with the See of Tours where Martin sat, with
the See of Verona where Zeno sat, with the See of Milan where
Ambrose was soon to sit, with the direct successors of ' Maternus
from the city of Cologne, of Reticius from the city of Autun, of
Marinus of Aries, of Felix from Florence of the Tuscans, of Gauden-
tius of Pisa, of Proterius of Capua,' and of every other of the nine
teen Bishops who sat in the Synod of the Lateran with Miltiades
the Pope (i, 23) — this is surely a great and striking thing — but also
with Churches of which Optatus never dreamed, in islands and
continents of which he had never heard.

2 ubi ergo erit proprietas Catholici Notninis ?

3 rationabilis et ubique diffusa. Thus in all the MSS. Two
emendations have been suggested, Non nationalis et &c., and
Rationabiliter ubique diffusa. Probably, however, St. Optatus
wrote it as we find it in the MSS., Rationdbilis et ubique diffusa.
If so, through his ignorance of Greek, he is linking together two
different derivations of the word «a0oAt/c<fc. From Kara, and o\ov,
= 'throughout the whole ' (i.e. scattered throughout the world), and
from Kara and \6yov — ' in accordance with reason.' We know that,
in consequence of this last meaning of the word, Procurators fiscal

60 ALL THE WORLD PROMISED TO CHRIST

For if you limit the Church just as it may please
you, into a narrow corner, if you withdraw whole
peoples from her communion, where will that be which
the Son of God has merited, where will that be which
the Father has freely granted Him, saying, in the
second Psalm :

' I will give to Thee the nations for Thine inheritance ;
and the ends of the earth for Thy possession ' ? x

To what purpose do you break so mighty a promise,
so that the breadth of all the kingdoms is compressed
by you into a sort of narrow prison ? Why do you
strive to stand in the way of so great a largesse ? Why
do you fight against the Saviour's Merits ? Permit
the Son to possess that which has been granted to
Him ; permit the Father to fulfil that which He has
promised.

Why do you put bounds, why set limits ? There
is nothing in any part of the earth which has been
withheld from His dominion, since the whole earth
has been promised by God the Father to the Saviour.
The whole earth has been granted to Him together

in Roman law were often called Rationales or KaQoXiKoi. St. Optatus
was probably in his first derivation thinking of heretics, in his
second of schismatics. The Church is Catholic or rationabilis
(according to right reason) in contradistinction to heretics, who have
strayed from the truth (against the due exercise of their reason) ;
she is Catholic or ubique diffusa (spread everywhere) in contradis
tinction to schismatics, who are confined within clearly defined,
very often within national, bounds and limits. Cf. St. Augustine,
Gesta Collationis Carthagiensis diei iii, ci : ' Christiani Afri, et
appellantur et merito sunt Catholici, ipsa sua communione nomen
testantes. Catholon enim secundum totum dicitur. Qui autem a
toto separatus est, partemque defendit ab universo praecisam, non
sibi usurpet hoc nomen, sed nobiscum teneat veritatem.'
1 Ps. ii, 8.

AS HIS INHERITANCE 61

with its nations. The whole world is Christ's as His
undivided possession.1 God proves this when he says :

' I will give unto Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and for Thy possession the bounds of the earth.' 2

And in the seventy-first Psalm, it has been written of
the Saviour Himself,

' He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the waters
to the bounds of the world.' 3

When the Father gives, He makes no exception ; you,
that you may give Him one fraction, endeavour to
take away the whole measure. And, still, you endea
vour to persuade men that the Church is amongst you
alone, taking away from Christ that which He has
won— denying that God has performed His promises.
What ingratitude ! What folly ! What presumption is
yours ! Christ invites you, with all others, into the
company of the Heavenly Kingdom and exhorts you
to be co-heirs with Him ; and you strive to rob
Him of the inheritance given Him by the Father,
allowing Him a part of Africa and refusing Him the
whole world, which the Father has bestowed upon
Him.

Why do you desire to make the Holy Ghost appear
a liar, who in the forty-ninth Psalm tells of the goodness
of Almighty God, saying :

' The Lord, the God of Gods has spoken and has called
the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down
thereof ' ? 4

1 Christo una possessio est. 2 Ps. ii, 8.

3 Ps. Ixxi, 8. 4 Ps. xlix, i.

62 THE CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS

Therefore the earth has been called to become flesh.1
And, as it has been written, so has it been done, and
the earth owes praises to its Creator.

Once more this is mentioned, where the Holy Spirit
exhorts us in the hundred and twelfth Psalm with the
words :

' The Name of the Lord must be praised from the rising
of the sun even to its going down.' 2

And again, in the ninety-fifth Psalm :
' Sing ye to the Lord a new song.' 3

If this were the only verse, you might say that the
Holy Ghost had exhorted you alone. But that He
might show that this has been said not to you alone,
but to the Church which is everywhere, He continued :

' Sing to the Lord, all the earth ; declare amongst the
nations His glory, His wonderful works amongst all
peoples.'4

He said :

' Declare amongst the nations.' 5

He did not say, ' in a small part of Africa, where

you are ' ; He did say ' Declare amongst all peoples.' 6

He who said ' all peoples ' excepted no man. Yet

1 Vocata est ergo terra ut caro fieret. Cf . ' I will take away the
stony heart out of your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh '
(Ez. xxxvi, 26).

Ps. cxii, 3.

Ps. xcv, i.

Ps. xcv, 1-3 : ' Cantate Domino omnis terra, pronuntiate in
gentibus gloriam Ipsius, in omnibus populis mirabilia Eius.'

' pronuntiate,' inquit, ' inter gentes.'

' pronuntiate,' inquit, ' in omnibus populis.'

NOT ONLY OF ONE PARTICULAR COUNTRY 63

you are proud to be alone and separated from ' all
peoples/ though to them this command was given ;
and you maintain that you, who are not in any part
of the whole* are yet yourselves alone the whole.

He has said :

' The name of the Lord must be praised/ and ' by all
the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down
thereof.' 2

Can then the Pagans, who are outside the covenant
of Christ,3 either sing to God or praise the name of the
Lord ? Is it not His Church alone, which is within the
covenant,4 that may praise Him ? 5 Therefore, if
you say that the Church is with you only, you are
defrauding God's ear of its due. If you alone are
praising Him, ' the whole world/ 6 which is from the

1 qui in omni toto non estis. This remains to-day the great
Catholic argument against the pretensions of the ' Orthodox '
Easterns. It is as effectual now as when St. Optatus first wrote the
words. Like the Donatists before them, the ' Orthodox ' are not
' in any part of the whole ' (they are not in that Church, which is
visibly Catholic — spread throughout the world) ; yet, like the
Donatists again, the ' Orthodox ' claim to be the whole. But St.
Optatus teaches that only those constitute ' the whole,' who are
visibly united ' in the whole,' that is who are ' everywhere ' (ubique).

2 Ps. cxii, 3.

3 Pagani extralegales.

4 sola Ecclesia, quae in lege est, as opposed to the ' Pagani extra
legales,' of whom he has just written. Lex, as so often elsewhere
in Optatus, means 'Lex Christi/ 'Lex Catholica ' (cf. v, 5 etc.).

6 St. Optatus gives us no hint of the great teaching about the
Soul (or Heart) of the Church, which is clearly expressed by St.
Augustine.

6 Totus orbis. By this phrase St. Optatus and St. Augustine
always mean the whole Catholic world. Cf. the saying of St. Augus
tine: ' Securus iudicat orbis terrarum' (see note i,p. 52) — by which he
means, of course, not the world separated from the Catholic Church
— even less the non-Christian world — but the Catholic world. The

64 THE ENDOWMENTS OF THE CHURCH

II. He

proves
from the
Cathedra
Petri that
the

Cathedra
which is
the first
endow
ment of
the Church
belongs to
Catholics,
not to
Donatists .

rising of the sun to its going down, will be keeping
silence. You have shut the mouths of all the Christian
nations. You have imposed silence on all the peoples
who desire to praise God from moment to moment.
If then God waits for the praise which is His due, and
if the Holy Spirit exhorts men to sound His praises,1
if ' the whole world ' is prepared to render to God His
due, lest God be robbed — then should you also praise
Uim, together with all, or, (since you have refused to be
with all,) in your isolation, hold your tongues.

So we have proved that the Catholic Church is the
Church which is spread throughout the world.

We must now mention its Adornments,2 and see
where are its five Endowments (which you have said
to be six3), amongst which the CATHEDRA is the first ;

Catholic world is the Judge, and judges free from anxiety, for this
very reason that it is, and knows itself to be, the Catholic world.

1 ut sonent. Cf. vii, i : ' per loca singula divinum sonat ubique
praeconium.'

2 St. Optatus has given us a summary proof that the Catholic
Church is not merely local, but claims to be everywhere. He
proceeds, in answer to Parmenian, to discuss the Adornments
(Ornamenta) or Endowments (Dotes) of the Church. The figure is
that of a Dowry bestowed by our Lord upon His Bride, the Church.
There is no other reference to these Dotes in patristic literature.

3 It is not difficult to reconstruct Parmenian's argument from
the pages of Optatus. We see that Parmenian had argued that the
Endowments were six in number, and had maintained that they
were all distinctive of Donatism and lacking to the Catholic Church.

(1) Cathedra (the expression for See so well known in Africa

from the writings of St. Cyprian).

(2) Angelus (from Apoc. ii, 3).

(3) Spiritus.

(4) Fons signatus (from Cant, iv, i).

(5) Sigillum (quo fons signatur).

(6) Umbilicus (from Cant, vii, 2).

It was common ground between Optatus and his opponent that the

THE ANGELUS 65

and, since the second Endowment, which is the
' Angelus,' cannot be added unless a Bishop has sat on

hortus conclusus (enclosed garden) of Cant, iv, 12-13 (' Hortus
conclusus mea sponsa, hortus conclusus, fons signatus, emissiones
tuae paradisus ') signified the Church (cf. ii, u : ' Quod ore tuo et
sensu nostro ecclesiam paradisum esse dixisti'). Accordingly the
fons signatus (sealed fountain) is the baptismal font, which (according
to Parmenian) is sealed to all outside the true Church, so that
Baptism by schismatics as well as by heretics is invalid. The
sigillum (seal) is the baptismal creed.

The font is only made a saving fountain, if it is blessed by the
true Bishop or angelus. Only thus is the third Endowment, the
Spirit, in the water of Baptism. Parmenian proves this by quoting
John v, 4, whence St. Optatus' words (ii, 6) : ' Unde vobis angelum,
qui apud vos possit fontem movere aut inter ceteras dotes Ecclesiae
numerari ? ' We see that Parmenian had evidently taken the
' Angel ' in the Apocalypse (without identifying him with any
particular Bishop) in order to prove that only a true Bishop was able
so ' to move the water,' that the Spirit should be there for valid
Baptism. By Umbilicus Parmenian understood the altar. We
can thus follow what no doubt was his argument. ' The true Church
has/ he will have said to the Catholics, ' six Endowments.'
(i) Cathedra, a lawful right to the See. But Caecilian had no such
right, for the Numidian Bishops were not called to his election,
and a Council of seventy Bishops deposed him. (2) Angelus, or
a Bishop sent by God, but Caecilian was ordained by a Traditor.
(3) Spiritus, the Spirit of adoption, who makes sons of God in
Baptism. (4) This Spirit will only work by means of the water in
the Fons, which is moved by the Angelus. Hence all those persons
who have been baptised by others than Donatists must be rebaptised.
(5) For the Fountain is signatus sigillo (Symboli) ,and all but Donatists
are heretical. (6) And the Umbilicus (altar) must also belong to
the true Angelus. On this pretext they scraped, broke down and
even utterly destroyed Catholic altars (cf. vi, i). Such is the argu
ment that St. Optatus had to meet. He denied (on what seems to
us to be a technicality only) that Umbilicus was one of these
Endowments, but proceeded (2-9) to argue against Parmenian that
the first five belonged to Catholics, and were marks of the Catholic
Church exclusively, and in no way shared by the Donatists. In the
first place, he takes Cathedra and Angelus together, and shows that
the Donatists could have neither the one nor the other unless they
were in union with the See of Peter. For the Cathedra Petri
pre-eminently is the Cathedra.

66 THE CATHEDRA

the Cathedra?- we must see who was the first to sit on
the Cathedra, and where 2 he sat. If you do not know
this, learn. If you do know, blush. Ignorance can
not be attributed to you — it follows that you know.8
For one who knows, to err is sin. Those who do not
know may sometimes be pardoned.4

You cannot then deny that you do know 5 that upon
Peter first 6 in the City of Rome 7 was bestowed the
Episcopal Cathedra? on which sat Peter, the Head of
all the Apostles (for which reason he was called Cephas9),

1 St. Cyprian was the first Father to use the term Cathedra
(Chair). He applied it (as a word in common use at the time) to
the See of Rome which he termed the Cathedra Petri. Parmenian,
evidently, had claimed the Cathedra, stating that it belonged to him
through the Angelus or Bishop (in other words ' We have valid
Orders, and therefore we are in the Church '). St. Optatus replies
to this in the text by making direct appeal to Rome. No man can
possess a Cathedra, argues Optatus, who is not in communion with
the one Cathedra, which, in all but successive sentences, he calls
' una Cathedra,' ' singularis Cathedra ' and ' Cathedra unica.'
Balduinus, in the course of a long letter which he addressed to
Calvin on the occasion of bringing out his first edition of Optatus,
remarked as follows : ' Locutus est, ut scis, Christus de iis, qui
sedent in Cathedra Mosis ; veteres Christiani de iis, qui in Petri . '

8 quis et ubi prior Cathedram sederit ?

* Cf. vii, 5 (p. 294).

* This is what we are now accustomed to call ' Invincible
Ignorance ' (cf. John ix, 40).

6 Evidently St. Optatus had no fear that any objection should
be taken to what he was about to urge, as to something new. On
the contrary, it was well known and recognised by all. ' You
cannot deny that you do know.'

6 Petro primo. This in answer to who it was who first sat on
the Cathedra (quis i>) . The answer is Peter.

7 in urbe Roma. This in answer to the question where was he
the first to sit (ubi ?). The answer is Rome.

3 Cathedram episcopalem esse conlatam.

9 Evidently this is an instance of paronomasia or play upon
words (Cephas from Ke<j>a\-f)). It is so atrocious etym ©logically to
derive an Aramaic from a Greek word that Balduinus thinks that

THE CATHEDRA PETRI 67

that, in this one Cathedra, unity should be preserved
by all,1 lest the other Apostles might claim — each for
himself — separate Cathedras, so that he who should
set up a second Cathedra against the unique Cathedra 2
would already be a schismatic and a sinner.

Unde et Cephas appellatus est was not written by St. Optatus, but
was introduced by some librarian from a marginal note of an
ignorant commentator. But we must remember that neither
Optatus nor any of the ancients knew anything of etymology.
In vii, 3, St. Optatus simply calls St. Peter Caput Apostolorum,
without any further comment.

1 in qua unica Cathedra uniias alt omnibus servaretur. This is
the doctrine so often and so clearly expressed by St. Cyprian, cf. e.g.

' Una ecclesia a Christo Domino nostro super Petrum, origine
unitatis et ratione fundata ' (Ep. Ixx, 3), and ' Petro primum
Dominus, super quern aedificavit Ecclesiam, et unde unitatis originem
instituit et ostendit, potestatem istam dedit ' (Ep. Ixxiii, 3), and
' Deus unus est et Christus unus, et una Ecclesia, et Cathedra una,
super Petrum Domini voce fundata ' (xliii, 5) . We should always
bear in mind that St. Cyprian was at this time the great authority
in Christian Africa, not only in the eyes of Catholics, but also in
those of Donatists. Thus St. Augustine writes (Brev. Coll, iii, 10) :
' Repetierunt Catholici testimonium Cypriani . . . Contra quod
testimonium omnino nihil ausi fuerunt respondere, cum auctoritatem
Cypriani tanti habeant, ut per illam conentur defendere, quod male
de iterando Baptismo sentiunt et faciunt.'

8 ne ceteri Apostoli singulas sibi quisque defender ent, ut iam
scistnaticus et peccator esset, qui contra singularem Cathedram
alteram conlocaret. This perfectly plain doctrine of St. Optatus
was never once challenged amongst Christians (the Albigenses were
Manichees rather than Christians) until the days of Hus and
Wycliffe, some nine hundred years later. We know that the
work of St. Optatus was the great authority and handbook of
St. Augustine in his arguments against the Donatists. He
constantly echoes the teaching of St. Optatus, concerning the
Chair of Peter, and, in his controversy with the Donatists, applied
the famous promise ' Upon this Rock I will build my Church ' to
this Holy See. ' Sedes Petri . . . ipsa est Petra ' (Ps. con. Donat.
St. xiv). Dr. Sparrow Simpson, however, writes as follows with
reference to this passage of St. Optatus : ' Optatus illustrates this
succession from the case of Rome, because St. Peter as the chief

F 2

68 THE SUCCESSORS OF PETER

Well then, on the one Cathedra, which is the first
of the Endowments, Peter was the first to sit.1

in. The To Peter succeeded Linus, to Linus succeeded

of Bishops Clement, to Clement Anacletus, to Anacletus Evaristus,
*ome> to Evaristus 2 Sixtus, to Sixtus Telesphorus, to Teles-
phorus Hyginus, to Hyginus Anacetus, to Anacetus
Pius, to Pius Soter, to Soter Alexander, to Alexander
Victor, to Victor Zephyrinus, to Zephyrinus Calixtus,
to Calixtus Urban, to Urban Pontianus, to Pontianus
Anterus, to Anterus Fabian, to Fabian Cornelius, to
Cornelius Lucius, to Lucius Stephen, to Stephen
Sixtus; to Sixtus Dionysius, to Dionysius Felix, to
Felix Marcellinus, to Marcellinus Eusebius, to Eusebius
Miltiades, to Miltiades Silvester, to Silvester Marcus,

Apostle, represents the principle of unity. No Apostle was to
arrogate to himself the Apostolic powers in separation from the other
Apostles ' (St. Augustine and African Church Divisions, Chapter
on St. Optatus' Reply to the Donatists, p. 45). Unfortunately
for Dr. Sparrow Simpson's accuracy, St. Optatus has not (either
here or elsewhere) written one syllable about ' no Apostle '
separating from ' the other Apostles.' He has, however, explained
(vii, 3) that the Apostles were not free, on account of Peter's denial
of Christ, to separate from the one Apostle ' who alone received
the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to be shared with the rest.'
He has also written with all possible emphasis concerning the unlaw
fulness of separating from the Cathedra Petri, which he here calls
' the unique Cathedra.' Of all this, we regret to say that Dr.
Sparrow Simpson gives not even a hint in his in some respects useful
analysis of the argument of Optatus.

1 Cf. St. Cyprian, Ep. ad Antonian. i, 8 : ' cum Fabiani [Romani
Episcopi] locus, id est cum locus Petri et gradus Cathedrae
sacerdotalis vacaret.'

2 St. Augustine copied this list of Popes given by St. Optatus.
Yet it is incomplete and in one case inaccurate . The name Alexander
should come after Evaristus, Eutychian and Gaius should come after
Felix, Marcellus (probably) after Marcellinus, and where Optatus
places Alexander (after Soter), he should have placed Eleutherius.
It may also be mentioned that in the list given by Irenaeus (Adv.
Haer. iii, 3) Pius precedes Anacetus.

THE DONATIST ANTI-POPES 69

to Marcus Julius, to Julius Liberius, to Liberius
Damasus, to Damasus Siricius,1 who to-day is our
colleague, with whom ' the whole world/ 2 through the
intercourse of letters of peace,3 agrees with us in one
bond of communion.4

Now do you show the origin of your Cathedra?
you who wish to claim the Holy Church for yourselves !

But 6 you allege that you too have some sort of a iv. The

. ,, ~., , _, , Donatist

party in the City of Rome.7 Bishops

and their

1 In the first edition of St. Optatus written about 370 A.D. the meeting-
list of Popes ended with Damasus. The name of Siricius who
became Pope in 383 was added in the second edition (cf. Preface
to Book VII).

» Totus orbis (cf. note i, p. 52).

3 Commercio formatarum. As is well known, the Catholic world
in the early centuries was kept in touch with its various parts
through the communication of litter ae formatae, or ' letters of peace,'
which passed at stated times between the Bishop of Rome and all
Catholic Bishops, and were also often sent from these Bishops to
one another. (Cf. Aug. Ep. xliv, 3 ; con. Cresc. iii, 34.) Formatae —
Terwufjifvai. TVTTOVV — sigillare. (Cf. Du Cange, iii, 565.)

4 in una communionis societate concordat.

5 Dr. Darwell Stone (The Christian Church, p. 143) quotes this
passage, but translates Cathedra ' Episcopal See.' This is to miss
the point. There is no question here of the origin of the Donatist
See at Carthage, or as to whether that See was rightly claimed by
Caecilian and Restitutus (the Catholic Bishops) on the one hand,
or by Majorinus and Parmenian (the Donatists) on the other —
a matter which has already been discussed in i, 10. The present
question is what have the Donatists to set against the Unica ac singularis
Cathedra Petri. To this Optatus replies in the next sentence (we
must remember that he knew nothing of the present division into
chapters) by suggesting that they might allege their Bishops of
Rome. ' But you allege, etc.* St. Optatus is engaged exclusively
with the See of Rome in the present chapters ii to vi, from the
time, that is, when he begins, until he ceases, to deal with the
Cathedra as an Endowment of the Church.

8 sed et habere vos in Urbe Roma aliquam partem dicitis.

1 Harnack points out that Donatists realised so clearly the
necessity of communion with the See of Peter, that in the early
days of their schism they established a line of Anti-Popes, conse-

70 PETER'S SHRINE

It is a branch of your error growing out of a lie,
not from the root of truth. In a word, were Macrobius *
to be asked where he sits in the City, will he be able
to say on Peter's Cathedra ? I doubt whether he has
even set eyes upon it, and schismatic that he is, he
has not drawn nigh to Peter's ' Shrine,' 2 against the
precept of the Apostle who writes :

' Communicating with the " Shrines " of the Saints/ 3

crating a Bishop for the purpose and sending him to Rome, to preside
over their handful of adherents in the City. He writes as follows :
' The connection with Peter's Chair was of decisive importance,
not only for Optatus, but also for his opponent, who had appealed
to the fact that the Donatists had also a Bishop in Rome ' (Harnack,
History of Dogma, v, 155).

1 The Donatist Bishop in Rome at the time. When later on
in this chapter St. Optatus comes to give the list of the Donatist
Anti-Popes, he evidently added in his second edition the names
of Lucian and Claudian, at the same time that he added the name
of Siricius to that of the Popes. (See Preface, p. xxii.)

* ad cuius Memoriam non accedit. Albaspinaeus translates
Relics. But Memoria is a chapel or church built over the body of
a Saint. Here it refers to the Basilica built by Constantine and
destroyed in the sixteenth century, where Macrobius could naturally
not say Mass. Over the body of St. Paul a small Basilica was
erected by Constantine. The great church, burnt in 1826, was built
in the fifth century, later than St. Optatus (cf. Condi. Carthag. 14 :
' altaria, quae . . . tanquain Memoriae martyrum constituuntur ').

3 Memoriis Sanctorum communicantes . The reference is to
Romans xii, 13. It is quite unintelligible to us until we learn
that some ancient MSS. had TCUS /uvefcus instead of TCUS xp*iais'
The reading fj.veia.is is in the Acts of Pionius (second or third century)
and in the bilingual codices D and G ; it was therefore the Western
and Old Latin reading. It is used, amongst others, by St. Hilary,
Ambrosiaster, St. Peter Chrysologus and St. Gregory the Great,
who writes (De Verbis Domini cxxxvii. 3, 7, last chapter) : ' Com-
tnunicaiio Memoriis sanctorum martyrum.' Both readings were
known to Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Jerome, Rufinus,
Augustine and Pelagius. So we see that in following this reading
St. Optatus does not stand alone. There is, however, little, if
any, doubt that St. Paul really wrote TO?S xPeiaiS>

VICTOR OF GARBA 71

Behold, in Rome are the ' Shrines ' of the two
Apostles. Will you tell me whether he has been able to
approach them, or has offered Sacrifice in those places,
where — as is certain — are these ' Shrines ' of the Saints.

So it follows that your colleague Macrobius must
confess that he sits where once sat Encolpius ; and
if Encolpius himself could be questioned, he would
say that he sat where before him sat Bonifacius of
Balla ; and if Bonifacius could be asked, he would
in his turn reply that he sat where Victor of Garba
sat, whom some time ago your people sent from
Africa to a few wanderers.1

How do you explain that your party has not
been able fo possess a Roman citizen as Bishop in
Rome ? How is it that in that City they were all
Africans 2 and strangers who are known to have
succeeded one another ? Is not craft here manifest ?
Is this not the spirit of faction — the mother of schism ?

This Victor of Garba was sent first, I will not say
as a stone into a fountain (for he could not ruffle
the pure waters of the Catholic people), but because
some Africans who belonged to your party, having
gone to Rome, and wishing to live there, begged that
someone should be sent from Africa to preside over
their public worship. So Victor was sent to them.
He was there as a son without a father, as a beginner
without a master, as a disciple without a teacher,

1 ad paucos erraticos — a few Africans staying in Rome — strangers
in the city — out of communion with its Church and Bishop —
rebuked by its Cathedra — mere ' wanderers.'

8 toti African*. For toti = omnes cf. ii, 5 : ' digiti, quos . .
totos ' ; vii, i : ' libri legis dominicae toti ubique recitantur.' Pope
Miltiades was an African. The emphasis, therefore, is on the toti.

72 THE CATHEDRA PESTILENTIAE

as a follower without a predecessor,1 as a lodger
without a home, as a guest without a guest-house,
as a shepherd without a flock, as a Bishop without a
people. For neither flock nor people can that handful
be termed, who amongst the forty and more Basilicas
in Rome, had not one place in which to assemble.

Accordingly they closed up 2 a cave outside the
City with trellis-work,3 where they might have a
meeting-house at once,4 and on account of this were
called Mountaineers.5

Since then, Claudian has succeeded to Lucian,
Lucian to Macrobius, Macrobius to Encolpius,
Encolpius to Boniface, Boniface to Victor. Victor
would not have been able, had he been asked where
he sat,6 to show that anyone had been there 7 before
him, nor could he havfe pointed out that he possessed
any Cathedra save the Cathedra of pestilence 8 ;

1 sequens sine antecedente (cf. St. Cypr. Ep. ad Magnum, 3 :
' Novatianus in Ecclesia non est, nee episcopus computari potest,
quia evangelica et apostolica traditione contempta nemini succedens
a se ipso ortus est ') .

2 saepserunt. RB have serpserunt.

3 cratibus. RBvb have gradibus. Casaubon adopts this,
translates saepserunt ' they fortified/ and understands by gradibus
steps going down to the cave from above. But cratibus is almost
certainly the true reading.

4 ipso tempore conventiculum. For ipso tempore Barthius con
jectured pro tempore.

6 Montenses. Mountaineers — from this ' cave/ which was made
to look like a little mountain. St. Jerome writes (In Chronico
ad annum Christi 336) : ' Quidam sectatores Donati etiam Mon
tenses vocant eo quod ecclesiam Romae primum in monte habere
caeperunt.'

6 ubi sederet, i.e. on whose Chair (Cathedra} he sat.

7 illic fuisse, i.e. on his Chair.

8 St. Optatus will soon make great play with this Cathedra
Pestilentiae (Ps. i, i), which he declares to belong to the Donatists.

PETER RECEIVED THE KEYS 73

for pestilence sends down its victims, destroyed by
diseases, to the regions of Hell which are known to
have their gates — gates against which we read that
Peter received the saving Keys — Peter, that is to say,
the first of our line,1 to whom it was said by Christ :

' To thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven/
and these keys

' the gates of Hell shall not overcome.' 2

How is it, then, that you strive to usurp for yourselves
the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, you who, with
your arguments, and audacious sacrilege, war against
the Chair of Peter ? 3

The Chair of Pestilence is ranged by him against the Chair of Peter.
For ' Cathedra Pestilentiae ' we may compare St. Ambrose (comm.
in cap. xxiiiMatthaei) : ' Quod autem ait super Cathedram Moysis
. . . per Cathedram legis doctrinam ostendit. Ergo et illud quod
dicitur in Psalmo " In Cathedra Pestilentiae non sedit," . . .
doctrinam debemus accipere.'

1 Principem scilicet nostrum, in contrast to Victor, who was
the first ' Mountaineer ' Bishop of Rome, or perhaps to the origi
nators of the Schism, with whom Optatus often taunts the Donatists
as being their Principes.

2 Claves regni coelorum tibi dabo, etportae inferorum non vincent eas.

3 Unde est ergo, quod claves regni coelorum vobis usurpare con-
tenditis, qui contra Cathedram Petri vestris praesumptionibus et
audaci sacrilegio militatis ? (Rvb have audaciis). It may well be
noted that Optatus accused the Donatists of ' audacious sacrilege '
(audax sacrilegium) in ' warring against ' the Chair of Peter. Their
' warring ' consisted, according to Optatus, in claiming the keys
argumentatively for themselves — thus justifying themselves in re
maining out of communion with the Holy See — and in ignoring the
Judgement of Pope Miltiades. Cf. i, 24, 25. Mr. Denny (Papalism,
n- 873) quotes this passage, but translates usurpare 'obtain,' and
omits altogether vestris praesumptionibus et audaci sacrilegio.
(For praesumptionibus cf. i, 7: ' de inconsideratis praesumptionibus
et erroribus vestris ' ; v, 4 : ' quod praescribas praesumptionibus
vestris ' ; vii, i : ' praesumptiones vestrae.')

Peace.

74 IS CHRIST DIVIDED ?

Thus do you repudiate the blessedness deserved
Authors by him who walked not in the counsel of the wicked,

of Schism, *

and did not stand in the way of sinners, and sat not
on the Chair of Pestilence.1 Your fathers walked
in the counsel of the ungodly, to divide the Church.
They also walked in the way of sinners, when they
strove to divide Christ, whose garments not even the
Jews would rend, though the Apostle Paul cries out
and says :

' Is then Christ divided ? ' *

Would that your fathers, after having already
walked in the evil way, had recognised their sin,
and turned back upon themselves ; would that they
had set right their wicked deeds ; would that they
had recalled the Peace 3 which they had put to
flight.

That would have been to turn back on their way,
for on the way we have to walk, not stand still. But,
since your fathers would not come back, it is certain
that they stood in the way of sinners. They, whose
steps had been impelled by mad wickedness, were
held back, bound and benumbed by the spirit of
strife ; and, that they might not be able to return
to better things, themselves placed the shackles of
schism upon themselves, so that with obstinacy
they stood in their error, and were not able to come
back to the Peace which they had deserted. Nor

1 PS. i, i.

J i Cor. i; 13.

3 quam fugaveruut pacew (Pax here as elsewhere = the Unity
of the Church. Cf. i, i ; vi, i etc.)-

THE SONS OF THEIR FATHERS 75

did they listen to the Holy Spirit speaking in the
thirty-third Psalm :

' Turn away from evil and do good ; seek Peace and
pursue it ' 1 ;

but they stood in the way of their sins.

Your fathers also sat on the Chair of Pestilence,
which, as we have said above, sends down to death
those whom it has beguiled. But you, whilst by your
zealous defence you pay homage to your fathers'
error, have made yourselves the heirs of their wicked
ness, when you might have been, though late, the sons
of Peace. For it has been written in the Prophet
Ezekiel :

' Raise thy voice over the son of the sinner, that he
follow not in his father's footsteps, since the soul of the
father is Mine and Mine is the soul of the son. The soul
which sins, alone shall be punished/ 2

If you would disown your fathers' sin, they alone
would have to give an account of their own deed.3
By acting thus, even you might be blessed and receive
praise from the mouth of the Prophet, who says in
the first Psalm :

' Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel
of the ungodly nor stood in the way of sinners, and has not
sat in the Chair of Pestilence, but has his will in the Law
of the Lord.' 4

What does it mean to have the ' will in the Law/

1 Ps. xxxiii, 15.

2 Ezek. xviii, 3-20.

3 Cf. vii, i where the argument is elaborated, with reference to
this passage in Ezekiel, contrasted with Exodus xx, 5.

1 Ps. i, i.

76 PEACE

unless both to learn the divine precepts with piety,
and fulfil them with fear — to have the will set on that
Law in which it has been written (in the Gospel) :

' Peace on earth to men of good will/ 1
and in another place (in Isaiah the Prophet 2) :

' I will lay the foundations of peace in Sion,'
and in another (the eighty-fourth Psalm) :

' Let us see what the Lord shall say, for He shall speak
peace to His people,' 3

and in yet another (the seventy-fifth Psalm) :

' The Son of God has come, and His place has been set
in peace,' 4

and again (in the seventy-first Psalm) :

' Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and
the hills justice,' 5

and in the Gospel :

' My peace I give to you, My peace I leave to you ' 6 ;
and Paul says :

' He who sows peace, peace also shall he reap/ 7

1 Luke ii, 14. 2 Isaiah Ix, 17.

3 Ps. Ixxxiv, 9. ' Ps. Ixxv, 3.

5 Ps. Ixxi, 3. « John xiv, 27.

7 ' qui pacem seret, pacem et metet.' The reference is to
2 Cor. ix, 6, where the Vulgate reads : ' Qui parce seminat, parce
et metet.' Parce is in accordance both with the Greek ^ctSo/ieVws
and with the context. Evidently, therefore, St. Optatus cannot be
quoting from any Latin version, unknown to us, but the mistake is
due simply to a slip of his memory. In the same way he will
immediately supply the words ' In the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost,' which is probably a reminiscence
of 2 Cor. iii, 14.

ISOLATION OF THE DONATISTS 77

and in all his epistles l :

1 Let peace abound amongst you in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost ' 2 ;

and in the thirty-third Psalm :

' Seek peace and thou shalt obtain it.' 3

Peace had been put to flight 4 by your fathers and
departed. You ought to seek it as God has com
manded, though, until now, you have neither been
willing to seek it yourselves, nor to accept it, when
it was freely offered to you.

For who is there in so many Provinces that has
heard of whom you have been born,5 and (if there be
anyone who had heard this) who is there that does
not marvel at your error ? Who is there that does
not condemn your wickedness ? Wherefore, since it
is clear, yea, clearer than the light itself, that we are
with so many peoples who cannot be numbered, and
that so many countries are with us ; whilst you see
that you are to be found only in a portion of one
country ; and that you, by your errors, are separated
from the Church ; in vain do you claim for yourselves
alone this name of the Church with her Endowments,
which are rather with us than with you.

Now these Endowments are connected one with
another, and are distinct, but in such a way, that it

1 St. Optatus is no doubt thinking of St. Paul's epistles in general,
but he probably had especially in his mind Col. iii, 15, where the
O.L. reading of D and G gives us ' Pax Christi abundet in cordibus
vestris.'

2 G alone amongst the MSS omits this sentence.

3 Ps. xxxiii, 15.

4 fugata . . . pax (cf. note 3, p. 74). 6 Cf. note i, p. 72.

78 CATHEDRA PETRI NOSTRA EST

may be understood that one cannot be separated
from another. For they are numerically distinct,
but with one act of the mind we see them joined in
their Body,1 as are the fingers on the hand — each of
which we perceive to be removed by spaces from the
others. Therefore he who possesses one, must possess
them all, since not one of them can be apart from
its fellows.2

We may add that we possess — and that in the
strictest sense — not one Endowment alone, but all.

secondEn S°' °* ^ above-mentioned Endowments, the
dowment Cathedra is, as we have said, the first, which we have
Church proved to be ours, through Peter, and which draws

geius ' to itse^ tlie ANGEL 3 — unless, perchance, you claim
sh°P' kim *or y°urselves> and have him shut up somewhere

is not

with the or other.4 Send him out if you can, and let him

Donatists. , , , , . . , ,

exclude from his communion seven angels, our col
leagues in Asia, to whose churches wrote the Apostle
John — churches with which 5 you cannot prove that
you have any intercourse whatsoever.6

On what ground, then, can you maintain that you

1 suo iunguntur corpore (sc. the Church).

a ut in manu digiti, quos intervallis singulos videmus esse dis-
tinctos. Unde qui tenet unum, totos teneat necesse est, cum unus
quisque a paribus separari non possit.

3 quae ducit ad se Angelum. St. Optatus, having shown that the
Donatists have not the Cathedra, goes on to deny that they have
the Angelas either. For it is the Chair of Peter that ' draws to
itself the Bishop.'

4 habetis in loculis clausum. Cf. ii, i : ' In angustum coartatis
Ecclesiam.'

5 ad quorum ecclesias . . . cum quibus ecclesiis.

* The Donatists knew that they neither sent to these churches,
nor received from them, Litter ae formatae,

THE SEVEN CHURCHES 79

possess an Angel able to move the Fountain,1 or one
who, as such, can be numbered among the other
Endowments of the Church ?

Whatever is without the Seven Churches is alien.2

1 qui apud vos possit fontem movere — i.e. ' A Bishop able to give
grace.' The reference is to John v, 4. It is interesting to see that
this text was in the Version used by Parmenian.

8 extra Septem Ecclesias quicquid foris est alienum est. (Cf. vi, 3 :
' Orientalibus . . . ubi est septiformis Ecclesia.') Here, as else
where, St. Optatus supposes St. Cyprian to be familiar to his readers.
St. Cyprian teaches that the Seven Macchabees are the type of the
several churches, children of one Mother, and that on this account
both St. Paul and St. John wrote to seven churches. (See Ad
Fortunatum cap. xi. and Testimonia i, 20.) On the one hand St.
Optatus never expected the Seven Churches of Asia to be overrun
by the Turk, but on the other hand it is not likely that he supposed
them to be infallible or indefectible, for the heresies in some had
been sufficiently notorious. But he took the seven apostolic churches
then existing in Asia as a real proof of Apostolicity, for one reason
because Parmenian evidently had referred to them by mentioning
the Angel as one of the Endowments. St. Optatus retorts, ' We
are actually in communion with these Seven Churches, but you are
not ! ' Whatever is without the Seven Churches (not, I think,
necessarily these particular seven churches mentioned in the
Apocalypse, for if Optatus had wished to say this, he would, as
elsewhere, have written 'extra quas septem Ecclesias,' (cf . 'ad quorum
Ecclesias,' ' cum quibus Ecclesiis,' etc., supra,) but whatever is
without Cyprian's mystical Seven) is outside (foris), is alien
(alienum) . In all probability foris and alienum are used as syno
nyms (see i, ir, ' dum foras exeunt et se separant ' ; so Cyprian, Ep.
ad Anton, i, 8, writes of a schismatic Bishop 'profanus est, alienns
est, foris est'), though Ziwsa says that alienum here = diversum.
Optatus has already written (i, 12) that heretics are ' abhortuloeta
paradise Dei alieni ' ; he now writes simply that ' whatever is schismatic '
is ' alienum ' — is alien, is foreign to, is not within ' God's garden ' — the
Catholic Church. (We may compare St. Ambrose in Ep. I. Ad Cor. iii,
15, 'Extra Catholicam quicquid est, contrarium est.') St. Augustine
takes up and several times uses this appeal to the Apostolic churches
of the East. It is sometimes compared by non-Catholic contro
versialists to the patristic appeal to communion with Rome. But
the work of St. Optatus is by itself enough to show the lack of parity.
The duty of union with the Cathedra Petri is put forward as of
primary and absolute necessity, because it is the Cathedra, because
Peter alone received the keys, and the like. There are no parallel

8o THE ANGELI

Supposing then that you really had even one
Angel who belongs to the Church, through that one
Angel you would be in communion with other Angels
too, and through them with the above-mentioned
Churches, and through these Churches 1 with us also.

statements — evidently none could be made — in any of the Fathers
about any other See, save the See of Rome. A Catholic in England
before the Reformation might have said with perfect truth : ' Who
ever is not in communion with the See of Canterbury is outside
the Church ' ; as a Catholic to-day may say with equal truth :
' Whoever is not in communion with the See of Westminster is
outside the Church.' It in no wise follows that the See of Canter
bury has not fallen, nor that the See of Westminster may not
(quod avert at Deus) fall into schism. Such immunity from schism
and heresy can be predicated of One See alone — itself the Centre of
Unity — set up for this very purpose, ' that unity might be preserved
by all ' — the Cathedra Singulars of St. Optatus (cf. note 2, p. 67).

1 et per angelos supra memoratis ecclesiis et per ipsas Ecclesias
nobis. As Optatus proceeds immediately to urge, it is an incon
trovertible principle of Catholicism that he who is in communion
with one member of the Body is thereby ipso facto in communion
with the other members, and with the whole Body ; whereas he
who is out of communion with one member is out of communion
with all. The test is of easy application, and is most often made
(as Optatus made it) primarily in relation to the See of Peter, but
we may apply it with equal certainty to any See which without
controversy belongs to the Catholic Church. Thus St. Optatus
applied it to the Seven Churches mentioned in the Apocalypse. We
can apply it, say, to the Church of Madrid, concerning which there
can be no doubt that it is Catholic. So, if any man (or any organised
religious body) claims to be Catholic, we may ask at once : ' Are
you in communion with the Bishop of Madrid ? If so, through
the Bishop of Madrid, you are in communion with the whole Catholic
Church, and since we (whom perhaps you call '' Roman Catholics ")
are in communion with the Bishop of Madrid, you must also be in
communion with us — which is manifestly untrue and — unless you
too are in communion with Rome — ridiculous. But if you are not
in communion with the Bishop of Madrid (who is, as you freely
acknowledge, a Catholic Bishop), you are thereby convicted of
being outside the Church, and are not a Catholic, whatever you
may be pleased to call yourself.' This is the argument of St. Optatus,
and of Catholics generally in every age. It at once makes

THE SPIRITUS

If these things be as I have stated them, you have
lost your case.1

Now perhaps you will see that the Endowments
of the Church cannot be with you, for you cannot
claim for yourselves alone the SPIRIT of God,2 nor
can you shut up 3 (in a small corner of Africa) Him

the question of the validity of Orders irrelevant to the main issue,
and raises the discussion to a higher plane — to the analogy of the
mystical Body of Christ with a human body, in which, so long as
the eye (or any other member) is in union with the hand (provided
only that the hand is in union with the heart), both live ; but the
moment that separation comes, one, or both, must be out of the body.

1 ' If you are not in communion with any Catholic Bishops your
position is hopeless ; but if you are in communion with any Catholic
Bishops you must through them be in communion with us, for we
are in communion with them.' (This is, of course; the reductio ad
absurdum of which we have spoken in the preceding note.) ' But
if you are in communion with us, you cannot have any longer any
case against us. You have lost your case.' It is possible that by
Angelus, St. Optatus does not in this passage understand the
Bishop himself, but the Guardian Angel of the Church, who attends
upon the Bishop. In this case his argument will be precisely the
same : ' If you have an Angel shut up in a box, send him to Asia,
and tell him to treat the Apostolic Churches there as excluded from
the true Church, and to cut off their Angels, to whom St. John wrote,
from his communion. Your Angel, if you have one, will not do
that. So if you are not in communion with those Angels, how can
you have an Angel at all ? Are not all the Angels in communion
with one another ? And the Seven Churches are a type of the whole
Church. Conversely, if you have an Angel, he must be in com
munion with the other Angels and therefore with those Apostolic
Churches, and (as we are in communion with them) then you must be
in communion with us, and so your whole attack upon us breaks
down.' Whether Angelus means Angel or Bishop, the argument is
the same, and clear.

2 St. Optatus passes to the third Endowment of the Church,
the Spirit of adoption, whereby we are the sons of God. Parmenian
had claimed this for the Donatists, and had said that it could not
belong to the Catholic Church, whose sons he declared (as we shall
see in a moment) to be the sons, not of God, but of Hell.

3 includere (cf. ' inclusus in templis,' ii, 15).

VII. The
third En
dowment,
Spiritus,
the Holy
Spirit, is
in the
Church,
not with
the
Donatists.

82 GOD IS A SPIRIT

whose Presence we recognise though we see it not.1
For so has it been written in the Gospel :

' God is a Spirit,' and ' breatheth where He willeth, but
you hear not His voice, nor do you know whence He cometh
and whither He goeth.' 2

Permit God to come whence He willeth, and
allow Him freedom to go where He pleaseth. He
can be heard, but He cannot be seen. And yet,
through your lust for calumny, you have been pleased
to blaspheme and say :

' What Spirit can there be in that Church,3 excepting
one which should give birth to sons of Hell ? ' 4

Thou 5 hast vomited forth thine invective and hast
thought that thou mightest thus be able to strengthen
thyself by producing testimony from the Gospel,
where we read :

' Woe to you, hypocrites, who compass seas and lands
to make one proselyte, and when you have found him,
make him a son of Hell twofold worse than yourselves.' 6

1 quod intelligitur et non videtur.

* This is a combination of John iv, 24 with John iii, 8.

8 in ilia Ecclesia, i.e. the Catholic Church. Optatus is quoting
from Parmenian's treatise.

* In reading the history of the Donatists we are reminded again
and again of English Puritans and Scotch Covenanters. Sir Walter
Scott, in some of the Waverley Novels, puts upon the lips of the
soldiers of Cromwell and the disciples of Calvin and John Knox
almost the identical words that St. Optatus puts upon the lips of
Parmenian and his friends.

5 As in many other places, St. Optatus now passes abruptly,
when addressing Parmenian, from the plural to the single number.
I have endeavoured throughout to make these transitions as far as
possible in the translation, though it is often the case (as here) that
they possess no significance.

* Matt, xxiii, 15.

VAE HYPOCRITIS 83

If this accusation — unjust and groundless though
it be — had to be made at all, would that it had been
made by any other of your party than yourself.1
Indeed I am lost in wonder that you, of all men,
should have dared falsely to bring against another
a charge, the very thought of which might well make
you blush, were you but to consider your own Conse
cration. For you have reminded us that we read
in the Gospel :

' Woe to you, hypocrites, who compass seas and lands
to make one proselyte ' —

that is, to change his sect. As for you personally,
I have no idea to what sect you previously belonged.
But your quotation was unfortunate. I think that
perhaps you are already sorry that you made it.2 Is it
we who have travelled through any lands ? Is it we
who have compassed any seas ? Is it we who have
set sail to foreign ports ? Is it we who have brought
in a Spaniard or a Gaul ? Have we consecrated a
foreigner, not known to our people ? 3

1 As Parmenian was not an African, he was the one Donatist
who should have been most careful not to have said ' you compass
sea and land.' This charge had better have been made, if at all,
by anyone else.

* tamen importune a te hoc dictum est. Aestimo quod te iant forte
huius dicti poeniteat. So PG. Ziwsa with the other MSS. reads
dictum esse aestimo quod, etc. But this is hard to translate, and
we do well always to remember in case of any doubt that P is much
the best MS.

3 It was against the Canon Law of the time to bring in a foreigner
to be consecrated Bishop, as it was considered of great importance
that he should be already well-known to the people over whom he
was to rule. For this reason Optatus reproaches Parmenian with
being a peregrinus (cf . iii, 3) .

G 2

84 FONS, SIGILLUM ET UMBILICUS

It is certain that the FOUNTAIN x also is one of

Concern
ing the the Endowments, from which heretics can neither

drink themselves, nor give others to drink. For, as
they alone 2 do not possess the SEAL, that is to say
the Catholic Creed, in its integrity, they cannot open
the true Fountain.

* * * * *

For3 since it has been written in the Canticle of
Canticles :

' Thy Navel is as a round goblet,' 4

you have tried to say that the Navel is the Altar. If the
Navel be a member of the body, from the fact that it
is a member, it cannot be amongst the Endowments.
To be an Ornament, it must not be part of the body.5

1 St. Optatus now comes to the consideration of Fons and
Sigillum. He passes swiftly over these Endowments, since (as he
has said, ii, 3) the Cathedra is the first. That Church which has the
Cathedra has them all, and is proved by this very fact — through
union with the Chair of Peter — to have the others also (ii, 5 — 6) .
As is obvious, Optatus was precluded by his statement that the
Donatists were schismatics and not heretics from proving directly
that they are without the fourth and fifth Endowments. Therefore
he contents himself with having already proved it indirectly and
inferentially by his statement that, since they have not the first
Endowment, they cannot have the rest, and merely agrees with
them that they are right in stating that heretics cannot have either
the Fountain or the Seal.

2 soli, in contradistinction to Catholics.

3 nani. This word (for) depends upon nothing to be found
in any MS. ; moreover, the transition is so abrupt, that it seems
almost certain that some connecting passage has been lost. Hence
the asterisks. St. Optatus having discussed the nature of the
Endowments, and having proved that they belong to the Catholic
Church alone, proceeds to discuss their number, and to argue that
they are five, not (as Parmenian had alleged) six.

4 Cant, vii, 2.

5 St. Optatus looked upon these Endowments as something
external to the Body of Christ. He regarded what we now call the

THE WITHERED BRANCH 85

The Endowments then are seen to be Five. Since ix. The
these Endowments belong to the Catholic Church men™"
(which is in so many countries already mentioned by church
us), they cannot be wanting to us here in Africa.

Understand, however late, that you are disobedient not with

,, , , , . J -. , Donatists.

sons, that you are boughs broken off from the tree,
that you are branches cut off from the vine, that
you are a river separated from its source. For that
stream which is small and which is derived from
another cannot be the source. Nor can the tree be
cut off from the branch,1 since the tree, which has
been planted and is alive, has its own roots ; whereas
the branch, which has been cut off, withers and dies.
Now do you see, my brother Parmenian, now

Notes, or Marks, of the Church as two. The true Church is One
and Catholic (of world-wide extension) . When the Church of Christ
has been thus identified, as the Church which is One and is Every
where (ubique), Optatus agrees with Parmenian as to her five
Endowments, but explains them very differently. According to
the mind of Optatus they are : (i) First and foremost — Union with
the Chair of Peter (Cathedra) ; (2) Apostolic Succession (Angelus) ;
(3) The Spirit of sonship (Spiritus) ; (4) The Baptismal Font, or
perhaps the True Faith (Fons) ; (5) The Seal of the Faith — the
Creed (Sigillum) . These Endowments are distinctive and character
istic of Catholicism. They are gifts from God ab extra bestowed
upon His Bride the Church. It can be proved to-day that the One
Church, which is not merely local, but is scattered through all the
nations, still possesses these ' Endowments,' e.g. is still in union with
the See of Peter (' Cathedra Petri quae nostra est ' ; cf. note 2, p. 86).
On the other hand, it will be seen immediately that any religious
body out of communion with the Catholic Church is without one at
least of these Endowments, e.g. has not the Cathedra Petri, from
which unhappily it is severed.

1 non potest arbor a ramo concidi. G has ' non potest esse
arbor ramus concisus ' (' nor can the branch which has been cut
off be the tree ') . This reading is adopted by Du Pin, as being ad
mentem scriptoris. But we are not free to choose an easy reading
in G against an unexpected, and therefore harder, reading in the
other MSS.

86 PERSONA ECCLESIAE

do you recognise, now do you understand, that by
your arguments you have fought against yourself?

For it has been proved that we are in the Holy
Catholic Church, who have too the Creed of the
Trinity l ; and it has been shown that, through the
Chair of Peter which is ours— through it 2— the other
Endowments also belong to us.

Again, ours is the Sacerdotium, which you have
affected to regard as in our case of no account 3— by
way of some excuse for your error and hatred in
re-baptising after us— though this you do not after
your own people, even when they have been proved
guilty of sin ; for you have maintained that, if the
priest be in sin,4 the Endowments are able to work
alone.5

Sb— to answer you— we haye shown what is heresy,
and what is schism, and which is the Holy Church,
and that of this Holy Church there has been con
stituted a Representative,6 and that the Catholic

1 apud quos et Symbolum Trinitatis est. This means the Creed
which expresses Faith in the Trinity. St. Optatus has in
the preceding chapter written of the ' Sigillum : id est Symbolum
Catholicum.' Cf. also St. Augustine's work De Fide et Symbolo.

2 per Cathedram Petri, quae nostra est, per ipsam et ceteras dotes
apud nos esse.

3 The Donatists held that Catholic priests who had been guilty
of the wickedness of Betrayal, thereby had lost their sacerdotal
powers, and especially that their Bishops could not ordain
validly. As a result they dared to deny that the Eucharist conse
crated by Catholics was the Body of Christ, and were even guilty
of the horrible sacrilege of casting It to dogs (cf. ii, 19).

4 Other than the sin of Traditio.

6 quod, si sacerdos in peccato sit, solae possint dotes operan.

6 et huius Sanctae Ecclesiae constituta est Persona. Persona
means first a mask, and thence a representative. There can be
no doubt that St. Optatus is here referring to St. Peter, or his

DOTES ECCLESIAE SUNT UBIQUE 87

Church is the Church which is scattered over the
whole world (of which we amongst others are members),
and that her Endowments are with her everywhere.1
We have also shown in our first Book that we
cannot justly be reproached with the crime of Betrayal,

successor in the See of Rome, as the Representative of the Church.
This is made clear by the fact that he is giving a summary of the
arguments which he has already brought forward in his book.
Now amongst these arguments the representative character of St.
Peter and of his Cathedra has, as we have just seen, taken a leading
place. Again, no alternative explanation of Persona in this passage
has ever been suggested. Further, it is well known that St. Augus
tine adopted this traditional view, and in several passages has written
of St. Peter as representing the whole Catholic Church in his own
person : e.g. Gestat enim Petrus Ecclesiae plerumque personam
(Sermo de Verb. Evangel. Matt. Ixxiv. 10) ; Petrus a petra cognomi-
natus beatus, Ecclesiae figuram portans, apostolatus principatum
tenens etc. (Sermo Ixxvi. ut supra) ; Petrus in multis locis
Scripturarum apparet quod personam gestet Ecclesiae (Sermo cxlix. 7
de Verbis Act. cap. x) ; Nam et ipsum Petrum, cui commendavit
oves suas quasi alter alteri, unum Secum facere volebat, ut sic
ei oves commendaret, ut esset I lie Caput, ille figuram Corporis
portaret, id est, Ecclesiae, et tanquam sponsus et sponsa essent duo
in carne una (Sermo de Pastoribus in Ecclesia, xlvi. 30 etc., etc.).

1 cuius dotes apud illam ubique sunt. ' The Endowments of the
Church are with her everywhere.' Therefore, the Chair of Peter
(according to the expressed mind of Optatus the chief of the Endow
ments) is with the Catholic Church (as well as the others— the local
Bishop, the Holy Spirit, the Faith and the Creed) wherever she may
be, in whatever part of the world. This See is the first and typical
See, with which all Catholic Bishops are in communion ubique.
It was idle then for Parmenian to appeal to his Cathedra. It was
not the ' Cathedra unica ' ; it was not ubique. If in all parts of the
world there are Cathedras, if Italy and Asia have succession of Bishops
as well as Africa, and if in Africa there are now rival Cathedras,
the question arises : ' Which is the true Cathedra ? Where is the
true Church ? ' To this Optatus gives the answer : That is the
true Cathedra in every place on which is seated a Bishop in com
munion with the original Cathedra at Rome ; there also is the true
Church, for ' the Catholic Church is the Church which is scattered
over the whole world and her Endowments are with her everywhere.'

NOMINA TRINITATIS

Catholics
possess
the Sacra
ments.

and that this crime has been condemned not only
by you, but by us also.1

Now I should like you to tell me this. Why have
you thought well to speak only of the Endowments
of the Church, and have said nothing about her holy
members and her inward organs,2 which without
doubt are in the Sacraments and in the Names of the
Trinity 3 ? These Names are met by Faith and its
profession, recorded upon the Acts of the Angels 4 ;
here are sown heavenly and spiritual seeds, so that,
for those who are born again, a new nature 5 may be
procreated from a holy germ, and he who had once
been born to the world may, where the Trinity meets
Faith, be spiritually new-born 6 to God.

1 The Donatist argument may be stated as follows in syllogistic
form :

Bishops and Priests guilty of the crime of Betrayal can no longer
use validly the power of their Orders ;

But you Catholics have been guilty of this crime of Betrayal ;

Therefore . . .

To this Optatus here replies to the Major Premise, ' TV unseat
(let it pass, for the sake of argument), but to the Minor Premise,
Nego Minor em. We never were Betrayers, and we always con
demned the sin of Betrayal.'

2 de sanctis eius membris ac visceribus tacuisti.

3 Nominibus Trinitatis, id est Personis Trinitatis. (Cf. v, 3 ' aqua
sancta quae de Trium Nominum fontibus inundat.') St. Optatus
now passes to the question of the One Baptism conferred in the
Name of the Trinity. One of the chief crimes of the Donatists
consisted in the repetition of Baptism administered by Catholics.

4 Professio[fidei}quaeapudactaconficitur Angelorum. Tertullian
had stated that an Angel was present at Baptism (De Baptismo,
vii, 5, 6), and St. Augustine has written (De Sytnbolo ad Catech.)
' Videte, dilectissimi, quia hanc professionem vestram in curiam
profertis Angelorum.' These last words are an echo of those of
Optatus in the text.

5 nova indoles,

6 The metaphor is of the Marriage of the Trinity with the

HOLY BAPTISM 89

In this way does God become the Father of men,
thus does the Holy Church become their Mother.

I perceive that all these things have been left
unmentioned by you, on purpose, lest in them all,
the true principles of Baptism x might be recognised,
in which there is nothing that the human minister
may, after your fashion, claim for himself.

For this reason you determined to occupy yourself
with the Endowments alone, which you have denied
to Catholics, vainly striving to claim them for your
selves exclusively, having clutched them, as it were
in your hand, or shut them up in a box.3 Although
the question is about regeneration, and man's
renovation, you have made no mention either of
Faith or of its profession by the Faithful. You
determined rather to speak of the Endowments alone,
and have passed over in silence all these things without
which spiritual faith and reparation cannot exist.
And although the Endowments belong to the Spouse,
not the Spouse to the Endowments, you dealt with
the Endowments as if life were given by them, not
by the inward organs, which we understand to be
rather in the Sacraments than in the Ornaments.

Nor do I pass over the fact that you have said XL The
openly that the Church is (as we believe) a Paradise — a rightly
thing which without doubt is true — a garden in which

God sets His little trees. And yet you have denied belongs to
to God His rich possessions by compressing His garden

Profession of Faith, producing a seed, a germ. Cf. S. Leo, Serm.
4 de Nativ. Domini : ' Aqua baptismatis instar est uteri virginalis,
eodem Spiritu Sancto replente fontem, qui replevit et Virginem.'
1 ratio baptismatis. * ant area conclusas.

THE CHURCH GOD'S PARADISE

XII.

From the
prayer of
Oblation
we gather
that the
One

Church is
Every
where.

into a narrow corner,1 claiming without reason every
thing for yourselves alone. Surely the plantations of
God, through different precepts, have different seeds.
The just, the continent, the merciful, the virgins are
spiritual seeds. Of these seeds God raises little plants
in His Paradise. Grant to God that His garden be
spread far and wide. Why do you deny to Him the
Christian peoples of East and North, also those of all
the provinces of the West and of innumerable islands
— with whom you share no fellowship of communion —
against whom you — few in number and rebels — are
ranged, in isolation ?

It is now time to condemn, as is only right, your
falsehood, with which each day you season your
Sacrifices.2 For who can doubt that you dare not
pass over what is prescribed in the Mystery of the
Sacraments ? 3 You say that you offer the Sacrifice
to God on behalf of the Church, which is One. This

1 cuius hortum in angustias cogitis.

2 mendacium . . . quo cotidie a vobis sacrificia condiuntur .

a nam quis dubitet vos illud legitimum in sacramentorum mysterio
praeterire non posse ? The word legitimum is a reference to the
prescribed words of the Liturgy. St. Optatus tells us (iv, 6) that
the Donatists used the Baptismal Exorcism ' Maledicte, exi foras.'
So St. Augustine (De -pecc. origin, ii, 40 ; cf. con. lul. Pelag. iii, 5)
observes that in the Baptism of children the Pelagians replied to
the question, ' abrenuntias Satanae ? ', though they denied that
these children were subject to original sin. Similarly, St. Cyprian
(Ep. ad Magnum 7) tells us that the Novatians did not venture
to pass over in Baptism the solemn words, ' credis remissionem
peccatorum ? ', and continued thus, ' et vitam aeternam per Sanctam
Ecclesiam ? ' ; yet they believed not in the Forgiveness of Sins
and did not belong to the Holy Church. Throughout history
we find heretics employing venerable creeds and solemn prayers,
the sense of which they have, often long since, abjured. Thus
St. Augustine (De dono Persev. xiii, 33) turned their use of the

THE CHURCH GOD'S BRIDE 91

in itself is part of your falsehood, to call that One, of
which you have made Two. You proclaim that you
sacrifice to God on behalf of the One Church, which
has been spread throughout the whole world.

But what reply would you make were God to say
to any one of you :

' Why dost thou offer sacrifice for the Whole — thou who
art not in the Whole ? '

If we are displeasing to you, what wrong has the
City of Antioch done you, or the Province of Arabia l ?

Yet we are able to prove that those who come
from Antioch and Arabia have been rebaptised by
you.

In one thing alone we cannot be ungrateful to you, xin.
my brother Parmenian. You have praised our Church 2
(that is the Catholic, which is contained throughout cES?chhe
the entire world) — although you do not belong to byPar-
her3 — by enumerating her Endowments (mistaken belongs to
though you are as to their number) and by teaching c
that she is a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed
up, and the only Bride.4

Preface in the Mass against the Pelagians in these words : ' Quod
ergo in Sacramentis Fidelium dicitur, ut sursum habeamus corda
ad Dominum, munus est Domini ; de quo munere ipsi Domino Deo
nostro gratias agere a sacerdote post hanc vocem, quibus hoc
dicitur, admonentur, et dignum ac iustum esse respondent.'

1 With whom you are out of communion, just as much as you
are out of communion with us.

2 Ecclesiam nostrum. Cf . ' Cathedra per Petrum nostra ' (ii, 6) ;
' Cathedra Petri, quae nostra est ' (ii, 9) .

3 quamvis ab ea sis alienus (cf . ii, 6 : ' quicquid foris est, alienum
est').

4 unica Sponsa.

92 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH

This we say of that which is our own ; you have
said it of that which does not belong to you.1 What
ever you have been able to say in praise of the Church,
we, before you, have said the same. We too, with
you, condemn the Betrayers — those men whom, if
you remember, we have shown up in our first Book.

And although we are in communion with the whole
[Catholic] world, and all the Provinces are in com
munion with us, you for some time past have thought
well to provide two churches,2 as if Africa alone had
Christian people — that Africa in which, through your
fault, two parties have been made ! And you — not
remembering Christ, who says that His Spouse is
One — have said, not that there are two parties in
Africa, but two Churches. Without doubt that
Church is One, to which it has been granted to be
pointed out by the Word of Christ, who says :

' One is My dove ; My spouse is One.' 3

catholics6 ^u* y°u' having forgotten this, have used these
have done words in order to stir up hatred against Catholics :

nothing

cruelty ' That,' you have said, ' cannot rightly be called a

Church which battens on bloody morsels, and is fattened
on the blood and the flesh of the Saints.'

The Church has her own determinate members —
Bishops, priests, deacons, clerics,4 and the mass of

1 de alieno locutus es.

- Optatus complains that Parmenian was content with con
trasting the rival churches in Africa, ignoring in his argument the
rest of the Catholic world, as though the controversy could be
settled solely by reference to what had happened in Africa.

3 Cant, vi, 8.

* ministvos. This word includes all Minor Orders.

PARMENIAN'S CHARGES 93

the faithful.1 Tell us against which class of men
in our Church2 the charge that you have thought
well to bring can be proved. Name some cleric
individually, point out some deacon by his name ;
show that this evil thing has been done by some
priest ; prove the guilt of Bishops. Make us see
that any one of our people has plotted against any
man. Who of us has persecuted any one ? Who
is there on your side, of whom you can either say
or prove that he has been persecuted by us ?

Unity displeases you.

So — if you deem it to be a crime, convict us of
being in communion with Thessalonians, Corinthians,
Galatians and the Seven Churches which are in Asia.

If it seems to you wicked or a proof of guilt
to communicate with the ' shrines ' 3 of the Apostles
and of all the Saints, far from denying this, we make
it our boast.

But that I may show that — to quote your words 4 — xv. The
it was your party which SStaS

of the

' has battened on bloody morsels, and has been fattened Church
on the blood and flesh of Christians,' Jfwas

your rabid madness must now be described from its by the
beginning ; now the story of your wickedness must Donatists-
be related anew ; now your folly must be proved.

First we have to show that the cause of your
gladness ought to be your shame, and how wicked is

1 turbamfidelium.

a in Ecclesia nostra. Cf. note 2, p. 91.

3 Cf. ii, 4 supra.

4 ut dixisti. RBvbd have ut dixi. But for the words of
Parmenian, cf. ii, 14 ; ii, 18.

94 A CHRISTIAN EMPEROR

your joy at having received 1 liberty to return to
your original wrongdoing.

Go over again the times that are past, enter into
the sequence of events,2 consider how different were
the persons concerned, and how different were their
aims.3

Recall Constantine 4 the Christian Emperor to
your memory. Think of the service which he rendered
to God, and remember his ardent desire that schism
should be removed, and all dissension die away, so
that Holy Mother Church might see, rejoicing, her
children throughout the world living in unity. He
restored the unity of communion ; he gave back
wives to husbands, children to parents, brothers to
brothers.

These are the things concerning which God bears
witness that He is well pleased, when He says in the
hundred and thirty-second Psalm :

' Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity.' 5

For Peace in unity6 joined together the peoples
of Africa and of the East, and the rest beyond the
sea,7 and this unity itself,8 through the representation

1 From Julian the Apostate.

2 rationetn rerum.

3 The contrast is between the Christian and the heathen ruler.

* All the MSS. have Constantinus. But at the beginning of the
next chapter we shall read that, ' as was known to all men/ this
Emperor was succeeded by Julian. Therefore, either we must
read Constans against the MSS., or it was a slip of the pen on the
part of Optatus.

6 Ps. cxxxii, i. 6 Pax una.

7 Africanos populos et orientates et ceteros transmarinos (Africa,
Asia, Europe). 8 ipsa unitas.

JULIAN THE APOSTATE 95

of all its members, made the Body of the Church solid.
And then over this the Devil, whom it always tortures
to see brethren living in peace, was sorely vexed.

At that time, under a Christian Emperor, Satan,
as if shut up in the idols, lay abandoned in his temples.
Your leaders too and first fathers had been sent, as
they deserved; into banishment. In the Church there
were no schisms. Pagans were not allowed their
sacrilegious rites. Peace, beloved by God, dwelt
amongst all Christian peoples. The devil mourned
in his temples ; you mourned in foreign lands.

Next, as is known to all men, there followed J^i-

, _ , Ine .bcuct

another Emperor, who, in con]unction with you, de- of Julian,
vised evil plans, and from the servant of God became
the tool of God's enemy. His edicts bore him witness
that he was an apostate. Yet this was the man
whom you entreated to be allowed to return.1 If
you deny that you sent such entreaties, we reply that
we have read them. Nor did he whom you entreated
make difficulties. He commanded you to come back,2
as you asked. For he knew well that you would
come, with fierceness, to break up Peace.3

If you have any shame, blush.

The same decree, which gave freedom to you,
ordered the temples to be opened to their idols.4

You returned, in your madness, to Africa almost xvn.

The mad-

1 ut reverti possetis. SSdty"*

2 ire. We should probably read redire, the word found in the of the
next chapter. Donatists.

* ad disturbandam Pacem.

4 Cf. S. August. Ep. cxlviii ; clxvi ; and con. Petil. ii, 92.

96 DONATIST SAVAGERY

at the moment when the devil was loosed from his
dungeons.

Still you do not blush — you who, at the same
time as the Enemy, have reasons for rejoicing, which
you share with him.

You came raging ; you came full of wrath, rending
the members of the Church ; subtle in your deceits ;
savage in your slaughters, provoking the children
of Peace to war. A large number you banished from
their homes. Approaching with a hired band, you
rushed upon the Basilicas. Many of your party
throughout numerous districts (which it would be
too long to mention by their names) worked massacres
so bloody, that the judges of the time sent a report
to the Emperor l concerning deeds of such atrocity.

But the Judgement of God intervened and came
to our aid, so that the Emperor who had already
long ago ordered you to come back,2 and who, at your
instigation, had arranged, or was even then arranging,
for our persecution, died in the midst of his profanity
and sacrileges.

xviii. Catholics were slaughtered in the above-mentioned

DoLtists' districts. You remember how your people ran to and

fro from Place to Place- Were not Felix of Zaba
and Januarius of Flumenpiscinum of your party,

and the others who rushed all together as swiftly
as they could, to a fortified place called Lemella 3 ?

1 ut relatio mitteretur. Relatio is a technical term for an official
report from the Provinces to the Emperor.

8 redire.

3 ad castellum Lemellefi P. Lemellensi Rd. Lemellesi G. Ziwsa
writes Lemellefense, an emendation which he justifies in his Index,

CATHOLIC MARTYRS 97

So soon as they saw that the Basilica, notwithstanding
their clamours, was closed against them, they com
manded their followers to climb to the top, strip the
roof, and throw down the tiles. These orders were
executed without delay. In the defence of the altar,
a number of Catholic deacons were wounded with
tiles— of whom two were killed— Primus the son of
Januarius, and Donatus the son of Ninus. Your
fellow-Bishops, whose names I have just given, were
present and urged them on, so that, without doubt,
of your party has it been said :

' Their feet are swift to shed blood.' l

Primosus, the Catholic Bishop of the place, com
plained of all this — whilst you listened disingenuously
to his complaints — at your Council held in the City
of Theneste.

See then how you did the things, of which you
have said :

' That is not the Church which battens on bloody
morsels * ;

and again you have said :

' Soldiers sent to war are one thing, consecrated Bishops
are another.'

What in your hatred you bring as a charge against
us was done by others, not by us ; that which you
say ought not to have been done, has been done by
you.

Lemella was in Mauritania Sitifensis. Cf. The Roman Martyro-
logy for Feb. 9 : 'In Africa in Castello Lemellensi Sanctorum
Martyrum Primi et Donati diaconorum, qui cum altare in Ecclesia
tuerentur, a Donatistis occisi sunt.'
1 Ps. xiii, 2.

98 BLOODGUILTINESS OF DONATISTS

You have recalled how the most blessed Apostle
Paul has said that the Church ought to be l without
wrinkle and without stain.2 In the presence, and at
the order, of your Bishops, Catholic deacons were
slain over the altar.3

The same things happened also at Carpi.4 Do not
such deeds appear to you indelible stains ? When
you came into the cities of Mauritania, the people
were overwhelmed with dread, so that children who
were near to birth died in their mothers' wombs.
Does not this seem to you to be a ' wrinkle ' such as
cannot be stretched or made smooth 5 by any repara
tion whatsoever ? What have we done of such a
character as this ? We wait for the vengeance of God .

And yet you create a prejudice against Macarius,
although anything that he may have done with harsh
ness on behalf of unity may well be regarded as of
light account, when compared with these monstrous,
bitter, bloodstained acts of war done by you on
behalf of dissension. Why should I mention Tipasa,
a city of Mauritania Caesariensis, whither rushed from
Numidia Urban of Forma and Felix of Idicra, two
burning torches, set on fire by hatred 6 ? These men
upset the minds of quiet people, who were established
in unity,7 and, aided by the favour and fury of certain
officials, in the very presence of Athenias the magis-

1 esse debeve.

- Cf. Eph. v, 27.

3 supra altare (cf. S. Augus. con. Cresc. Hi, 43).

4 apud Carpos. A town in Proconsular Africa. Cf. ' Antonius
Episcopus plebis Carpitanae ' (Coll. Carthag. i, 12,6).

" tendi aut explanari.

6 duae faculae, incensi livoribus.

' in Pace positorum.

THE EUCHARIST HORRIBLY PROFANED 99

trate, with colours flying,* broke up the Catholic
assemblies, with bloodshed. Catholics were driven
out from their homes. Their men were wounded.
Their women were dragged into captivity. Their
infants were slain. Mothers miscarried.

Look now at your church. Under the guidance
of its Bishops it

' battened on bloody morsels.'

After all this, you have gone on to say :

' Let the greed of vultures consume whatever it will ;
still the number of doves is greater.' 2

What, then, has happened to the common saying
that a liar should have his memory in due keeping ?
Have you forgotten what you said a moment before,
that in the Canticle of Canticles

' The Church is Christ's one Dove ' 3 ?

If yours is the One Church, the Dove is One. What
then did you mean by saying that

' the number of doves is greater ' ?

Moreover, a hideous crime (which seems to you xix.
something of little importance) 4 was committed, in Eucharist
such a fashion that your above-mentioned fellow- '^
Bishops profaned everything which is most holy.
They commanded the Eucharist to be cast to the
dogs. This did not pass without evidence of the

1 cum signis (sc. militaribus) . thrown

2 With this reference to the boast of the Donatists that they awa7-
were ' doves,' we may compare St. Augustine (con. Pet. ii, 83) : Tieir

' Isto modo et milvus, cum pullos rapere territos non potuerit sacrileees
columbam se nominat.'

3 Cf. Cant, vi, 8.

* quod vobis leve videtur, j 'acinus inmane.

H 2

TOO A PHIAL OF CHRISM

Divine Judgement, for these same dogs were inflamed
with madness, and tore their own masters in pieces
as though they had been murderers,1 and attacked
with avenging teeth those guilty of the Holy Body,2
as if they had been strangers and enemies.

They also threw a phial of chrism out of a window,
in order to break it, and although its fall was pre
cipitated by violence, an angel's hand was there to
bring it down gently to earth, with the support that
is from heaven. Though thrown away, it was not
allowed to feel its fall, but, by the protection of God,
found its home unbroken amongst the rocks.3

1 latrones. Cf. ' Christus percussus est in altari ' (vi, i). For
latro see note 9, p. 166.

2 Sancti Corporis reos (cf. i Cor. xi, 27). Mr. Sparrow Simpson,
giving a summary account of this passage in Optatus, observes
(op. cit. p. 39) : ' The consecrated elements from the altars
were flung to the dogs.' St. Optatus writes nothing concerning
' the consecrated elements.' The very word ' elements ' would,
have been incomprehensible to him in this connection. He does
call the Eucharist ' the Holy Body ' and ' the Body of Christ '
(Corpus Christi, vi, i). It is impossible to avoid observing the
contrast between Catholic terminology of the fourth, and Anglican
terminology of the twentieth, century.

3 We must not forget that Optatus was an eye-witness of many
of the scenes which he describes. He does not, however, wish to
suggest that the angel's hand was seen, but simply to recall the fact
that the vessel containing the Holy Chrism was uninjured by its
fall. This he ascribes to the interposition of God, who uses His
Angels to guard that which is His own, and to minister to the needs of
His servants on earth. Mr. Sparrow Simpson (id.) comments on these
events as follows : ' By these fanatical measures ' [sic : one of which
was throwing the Eucharist to dogs — the ' facinus inmane ' of
Optatus] ' the Separatists relieved their feelings [sic] and expressed
their contempt. Various strange and legendary incidents recall
the scandal to the Catholic sense of reverence.' History sometimes
repeats herself with minute similarities. In Green's History of
the English People (vol. ii, p. 186) we read that in the year 1539
' In one church a Protestant lawyer raised a dog in his hands when
the Priest elevated the Host.'

TWO DONATIST BISHOPS 101

You never could have done such things as these,
if you had borne in mind the Commands of Christ,
who has said :

' Give not that which is holy to dogs, and cast not your
pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their
feet and turning rend you.' x

Could the makers of Unity have done anything of
a like nature, out of which you might labour to
create a baseless prejudice against us Catholics ? 2

Urban of Forma and Felix of Idicra, when they
came back, found that nuns whom they had seduced
from their state of chastity had become mothers.
Such, my brother Parmenian, is the character of the
Bishops, whose deeds you cover up ; and, when you
ought to be blushing for your own sins, you bring
charges against innocent Catholics.

At this time the above-mentioned Bishop Felix,
amongst his other crimes and horrible misdeeds,
seized a young maiden to whom he himself had given
the veil 3 — by whom he had a short time before been
called by the name of Father — and did not hesitate
in the least to be guilty of shameless incest. And,
as if, through his sin, he had been made holy, he went
with haste to Tysedis ! There he ventured to rob
of the episcopal name and office and honour Donatus,
a Bishop seventy years of age, against whom no
charge could be brought. The Catholic Bishop was
approached by the schismatic, the innocent by the

1 Matt, vii, 6.

8 quid tale . . . fieri potuit, unde etc. Du Pin, however, prints
with a note of interrogation after potuit, and begins a fresh sentence
with Unde.

3 cut ipse tnitram imposuerat^(ci. vi, 4).

102 i JOHN I, 8

guilty, the priest of God by one steeped in sacrilege,
the chaste by the incestuous. The Bishop was attacked
by one no longer a Bishop, who, relying upon the decrees
and conspiracy of your party, and armed by your
laws and your commands, cast those hands which a
short time before had been made heavy by sins, upon
the head of the innocent, and dared to let judgement
fall from that tongue of his, which was not now worthy
even to be allowed to do penance. See, my brother
Parmenian, the sort of persons whom you defend ;
see the kind of men they are, on whose behalf you
have, this long while, maintained that the Endowments
of the Church are working.

xx. it Will you then — you who wish men to think you

agaiSuhe h°ly and innocent— tell me this— whence comes this
Donates, sanctity of yours, which you too freely claim for
themselves yourselves — a sanctity which the Apostle John does
nolmanhat not dare to profess, when he writes :

can be free

from sin. ' jf we shan say that we are without sin we deceive

ourselves and the truth is not in us.' x

Hewho spoke thus kept himself, with wisdom, prepared
for the grace of God.2 For it belongs to a Christian
man to will what is good, and to run the course which
he has rightly willed. But it is not given to man to
bring to perfection ; so that after the stages, which
a man can go, there remains something for God with
which He may meet man's deficiency. For He alone
is perfection ; and perfect alone is Christ, the Son of

1 i John i, 8.

2 sapienter se ad Dei gratiam reservavit.

ROMANS IX, 16 103

God. We, the others, are all half-perfect 1 ; for it is
ours to will,2 it is ours to run, but it is God's to make
perfect. So the most blessed Apostle Paul has written :

' It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of him that reacheth to the grace of God.' 3

For perfect sanctity has not been given, but
promised, by Christ our Saviour. Thus He says :

' You shall be holy, because I am holy.' 4

So that He alone is perfect and holy. He did not
say ' You are holy ' but He did say

' You shall be holy.'

With what reason then do you, in your pride, claim
for yourselves perfect holiness, except it be to make
it clear that you deceive yourselves, and that the
truth is not in you ?

You have been unwilling to live in the school of
John,5 for, when you lead some astray, you promise
them that you will grant them forgiveness of their
sins ; and, when you are pleased to forgive sins, you

1 semi-perfecti (and this only through the grace of God).

2 If St. Optatus had lived after the Semi-Pelagian heresy,
he would have expressed himself in a more guarded manner (cf.
Tixeront, Histoire des dogmes, ii, 282). But we may be sure that he
did not forget Philippians ii, 13 : ' For it is God, who works in you
both to will, and to make perfect.' St. John Chrysostom, who of
course had never heard of Pelagianism, but was much concerned
with the defence of free will against Manichaeism, uses such
expressions as : ' We must first choose what is right and then God
will do His part ' (cf. Horn, in Matt. Ixix, 2 ; et in Matt, xxxix, 4) —
a phrase which St. Augustine would have repudiated at once.

3 neque volentis, neque currentis, sed ad Dei gratiain pertinent-is.
The reference is of course to Rom. ix, 16. But here once again one
suspects that St. Optatus is trusting to his memory, and quoting
by heart. The Vulgate has not ad Dei gratiam pertinentis, but
miserentis Dei. This is a literal translation of the Greek.

4 Leviticus xi, 45. B Cf. I John i, 8 (supra).

104 THE PHARISEE

profess your own innocence and bestow forgiveness
of sins, in such a manner as though you had no sin
yourselves.1 This in you is not presumption [merely] ;
it is deception. This is not truth ; it is a falsehood.2
For it is only a moment after 3 you have laid your
hands upon the heads of others and pardoned their
crimes, that you turn to the altar, and are unable to
pass over the Lord's Prayer. Then no doubt you say :

' Our Father who art in Heaven, forgive us our debts 4
and sins.'

What ought you to be called when you confess your
own sins, if you are holy when you forgive the sins of
others ? In this way do you deceive yourselves, and
the truth is not in you.

But it is clear that this is dictated to you by your
nursing mother Pride, as Christ bears witness in the
Gospel. Although He did not mention your names,
still He pointed out your character by a parable.
For thus has it been written :

' Jesus spoke this parable on account of those who con
sider themselves holy and despise others.' 5

The evidence itself clearly shows that, when you
puff yourselves up as holy, and plainly and openly
despise us, this has been said of you. Two men, He

1 It was the false boast of the Donatists that they could forgive
the sins of other men, because they were themselves without sin.

8 St. Optatus has already told us (cf. i, 10) that Parmenian had
asserted that ' the unclean could not cleanse, nor the guilty grant
pardon, nor could one who had been condemned absolve from sin.'
He now retorts this argument : ' You absolve. On your own
principles no sinner can absolve. Therefore you are forced to
assert that you are without sin, but if you say that you are without
sin, the truth is not in you.'

8 etenim inter vicina momenta.

* debita. (Cf. iii, 4 : ' debita etiam maxima perdere.1)

6 Luke xviii, 9 seq.

AND THE PUBLICAN 105

said, went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a Publican. The Pharisee swollen out,
proud, puffed up, such as we see you too to be, his
body not humbled, his neck not bent, but with raised
countenance and swelling breast — cried aloud :

' I give Thee thanks, my God, because in nothing have
I sinned.'

This is to say to God :

' I have nothing for Thee to pardon.'

O wildness of a madman ! O pride that must be
punished and condemned ! 1 God is prepared to pardon
and the guilty one hastens to reject forgiveness. The
Publican in his humility, recognising that he was a
man, besought in this manner :

' Have mercy, O Lord, on me a sinner.'

Thus did he 2 deserve to be justified ; thus did pride
go down from the Temple, condemned in the Pharisee
— your teacher.

More tolerable is it to find sins where there is
humility, than innocence where there is pride.

But you, though you are burdened with the heavy
sins of Betrayal and Schism, take credit to yourselves
that you are proud as well !

Now that we have proved that you ought to blush xxi. The
with shame for those things at which you rejoice, Donatists

stripy

yourselves in so many places, something should be B,isi°?s

of their

and have shown with what mad rage you conducted Uripping

ops

said about the depth of your impiety. For who dignity

and sub
mitting

1 0 insanus furoy, o punienda et damnanda superbia I For O them to
RBvbd read hoc. Penance.

2 Du Pin supplies humilitas, but it is not in the MSS.

106 DONATIST CUNNING

ever will be able to explain the crimes that have been
done, or those that are being actually done, by you ?
It is clear that, with a certain wicked ingenuity, you
arranged all your plans in such a way as by one bad
action to accomplish different results. For example,
when a priest or a Bishop was removed by you from
his post,1 you saw to it that you might capture all his
flock. How could a mass of men stand firm when
they saw you tear their ruler from them ? In this
manner is it always that, after the shepherd has by
some misfortune been killed, wolves set upon the sheep.

You exorcised the Faithful, and without reason
washed the walls of the churches, that by wickedness
of this kind you might undermine the minds of very
simple people.2 By such evil designs as these you
throttled the intelligence of not a few,3 and having
disguised the light of your cunning by covering it all
under a cloud4 of feigned simplicity, you shot arrows
from your quiver, to lay low the miserable by the
seductions that your hearts contrived. Even as the
Holy Ghost foretold of you, through David the Prophet,
in the Psalm :

' For lo the wicked have bent their bow, they have pre
pared the arrows in their quiver to shoot the upright
of heart when the moon is dark.' 5

1 dum . . . deicitur. Ziwsa says that deicitur here = a loco
removetur.

- When the Donatists seized the churches of the Catholics, they
washed down their walls, with grotesque and superstitious
ceremonies, thus to impress upon the minds of the ignorant people
that the very material buildings had been profaned by Catholic
worship (cf. vi, 6).j 3 nonnullorum animi iugulati stint.

1 sub nube, with reference to ' obscura luna ' (in the quotation
from Psalm x, that follows immediately) .

5 Ps. x, 3 : ad sagittandos obscura luna (Vulgate ut sagittent in
obscura} .

AND PRIDE 107

In what way have your deeds fallen short of your
plans ? You have shot the innocent, you have dis
armed the faithful. Bishops have been stripped of
the office belonging to their title. O unheard-of
impiety, upon whom have you laid your cut-throat
hands, to keep them amongst the torments of
Penance 1 ?

The savagery of highway robbers is seen to be a
thing of less account, when compared with the deeds
that you have done. The robber gives those whom
he murders a quick death ; you slay your victim,
yet leave him amongst the living.2 Those whom you
have succeeded in deceiving have been entrapped
through the weakness of their understanding,3 for
they 4 who had been ordained in the Name of God
had, by God's own work, been made perfect [in their
office]. And you fight fiercely against the work of
God, destroying His work by the engines of your
wickedness.5

It is clear, therefore, that of you it has been written
in the tenth Psalm :
' That which Thou hast made perfect they have destroyed.' 6

Your impiety has filled you with pride, but

' Justice looking down from heaven ' 7
accuses you ; whilst on earth men praise you with

1 inter Poenitentiae tormenta servare.

2 You strip the Catholic Bishops of their office and make them
endure a living death amongst those doing Penance.

3 paupertate sensus sui, id est ' You have made simple people
believe, contrary to the truth, that their Bishops were unworthy.'

4 illi = the Bishops.

5 malitiae vectibus.

6 Ps. x, 4. 7 Cf. Ps. Ixxxiv, 12.

io8

DONATIST IMPIETY

mistaken praise for doing wickedness, so that of you
the Holy Ghost has said in the ninth Psalm :

' Whilst the wicked man is proud, the poor man is set on
fire ; they are caught in the counsels which they devise.
The sinner is praised in the desires of his soul and he who
does iniquity shall be blessed/ 1

What greater iniquity than yours can there be
found to be praised ? What is there more iniquitous
than to exorcise the Holy Ghost, to break down
altars, to cast the Eucharist to animals ? Yet your
people praise you and — thus do they plunge you
into folly — call you fortunate, and name you for
good luck,2 and swear by your name, and so are
seen already to treat your persons as though you
were God.

XXII.
The

Impiety of
the Dona-
tists, who
were ac
customed
to swear
by their
Bishops.

Men are accustomed to use the Name of God
when they swear, as a pledge of their truthfulness,
but your party, when they swear by you, keep silence
about God and Christ. If the worship due to God
has passed from Heaven to you (as would seem from
the fact that men swear by you), then let none of
you or your party fall sick ! Then refuse to die ;
give orders to the clouds : draw down the rain, if you
can, that they may swear even more freely in your
name, and may keep silence about God. For what
could the Devil effect more by the hands of your
people, than he did in the ages that are past, when

1 Ps. ix, 23, 24. Verse 23 is only found in PG (in P in a corrupt
form — ' dum superbium pius . . . conpraehenditur in consiliis
quae cogitat ' ; it is corrected in G) .

8 bene nominant.

AND SACRILEGE

109

he caused his temples to be built and his idols to be
fashioned — excepting this, that silence should be kept
about God, whilst men in their foolishness speak of
him alone.

O sacrilege heaped upon impiety ! You gladly xxm
listen to men swearing by you, but refuse your ears
to the voice of God in the hundred and fourth Psalm,
when He says :

' Touch not Mine Anointed and cast not your hands anointed
on My prophets.' * Priests-

That both kings and priests are God's Anointed
is shown by the books of Kings and also by David,
saying in the hundred and thirty-second Psalm :

' As the precious ointment on the head, that ran down
unto the beard of Aaron.' 2

You, on the contrary, have striven against God
to despise His precepts, as earnestly as they who
fear God strive to keep His Commandments. Tell us,
where is your authority for scraping the heads of
priests,3 when there are so many examples to the
contrary, showing that this may not be done ?

1 Ps. civ, 15 : Ne tetigeritis unctos Meos, neque in prophetas
Meos manum miseritis, The Vulgate reads : in prophetas Meos
nolite malignari.

2 Ps. cxxxii, 2.

3 ubi vobis mandatum est radere capita sacerdotum ? This is
really important. From this passage in Optatus it is plain that the
Donatist sacrilege was no other than the v/rongful use of the Rite
of Degradation as it is now prescribed in the Roman Pontifical.
' Cum cultello aut vitro abradit leviter caput degradandi dicens :
Consecrationem et benedictionem atque unctionem tibi traditam
radendo delemus.' So Optatus, with special reference to an unction

no SANCTITY OF THE

Saul, before he sinned, received the grace of being
anointed.1 After his anointing, he sinned grievously.
God, when He saw this, wishing to give us an example

bestowed upon priests, here accuses the Donatists of scraping the
heads of the Catholic priests whom, without any regard for the
sanctity of the Holy Oil, they ventured to degrade. (Cf. ii, 25
ad fin. : ' oleum suum defendit Deus,' etc.)

But until now no one seems ever to have imagined that oil was
used in any part of the Catholic world either in the ordination of
priests or the consecration of Bishops until the sixth century. Thus
Duchesne writes (Origines du culte, x, ad fin.} : ' L'onction propre
au rit Gallican aura ete suggeree par 1'Ancien Testament. Elle ne
parait pas tres ancienne. Quelques indices porteraient a en chercher
1'origine dans les Eglises de Bretagne [in fact Gildas alludes to it]
qui la pratiquaient des le sixieme siecle.' Similarly the learned
Dr. Hatch writes as follows (Article on Ordination in Smith and
Cheetham's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities) : — ' This rite
[anointing of the hands of priests] is mentioned by two French
liturgical writers of the ninth century, Amalarius of Metz (837) and
Theodulphus of Orleans (821) ; the earliest canonist who speaks
of it is Burchard of Worms (1025), but the recognised body of canon
law distinctly disallows it, quoting a response of Pope Nicholas I
to the Archbishop of Bourges in 864, who says that it is not a custom
of the Roman Church, and that he has never heard of its being
practised in the Christian Church. This must be held conclusive,
at any rate as to its not being a general practice in the ninth century ;
but afterwards it no doubt became general, for Innocent III insists
upon it, and objects to the Greeks for their omission of it. It is
important to note that even the Pseudo-Isidorian authorities for
the rite refer only to Bishops ; at the same time they clearly show
that the origin of the rite was the growing tendency to institute an
analogy of ceremonies between the Old and New Testament.'
Dr. Hatch proceeds to remark : — ' In addition to the anointing of
the hands a group of English and Norman pontificals direct the
anointing of the head ; so Pontif. Ecgb., S. Dunstan, Caturic.,
Rotom., Becc., but not elsewhere.' In contradiction to this we see
clearly from St. Optatus that the heads of Bishops and probably
of priests (the word Sacer datum here — as we may judge from the
context — probably includes Presbyteri as well as Episcopi) were
universally anointed in Africa in the fourth century (cf . ii, 25 : ' Ne
tetigeritis, inquit, unctos meos').
1 nngi mernit.

HOLY CHRISM in

not to touch the Oil, professed His repentance. For
we read that the Lord spoke thus :

' It repenteth Me to have anointed Saul to be a king.' l

Yet surely God might have taken away the Oil
which He had bestowed ; but, since He wished to
teach that the Oil should not be touched even in a
sinner, He who had given it, declared that it repented
Him. If then God, in order to teach you, could
not (because He would not) take away that which He
had given, who are you to take away what you did
not give ?

And when you ought to have opened your ears
to listen, you prepared your razor for sin. When
you ought to have been the sons of God, you preferred
to be the sons of men, and, in order to bite into other
men's offices, turned your teeth into arrows and arms.
You sharpened your tongues into swords ; you fulfilled
that which was written of you in the fifty-sixth Psalm :

' Sons of men — their teeth are arms and arrows ; their
tongue is a sharp sword.' 2

So you have sharpened your tongues into swords xxiv.
with which you slew not the bodies of men, but their done"™
dignities ; you have destroyed not their members,
but their titles. What boots it for those to live, who
have been slain by you in their office ? Their members degree and
are indeed whole and sound, but they carry about faying7
the corpse of the dignity which you have scratched ^
away. For you stretched forth your hand and placed
the death-bearing Veils upon every head ; so that

1 i Kings xv, ii. 2 Ps. Ivi, 5.

ii2 CATHOLICS WICKEDLY

whilst there are (as I have said above) four kinds
of heads in the Church — Bishops, priests, deacons,
and the Faithful, you have not spared one.

You have overturned the souls of men.1 God
holds these actions of yours up to detestation in
Ezekiel the Prophet, when He says :

' Woe to you who make a Veil,' 2
that is, who place your hands
' upon every head 3 and upon every age, to overturn souls.'

You have found boys, you have wounded them
with Penance, so that none of them might be ordained.
Recognise that you have ' overturned souls.'
You have found old men amongst the Faithful,4
you have made them do Penance.

Recognise that you have ' overturned souls/
You have found deacons, priests, Bishops, you
have made them as laymen.

Recognise that you have ' overturned souls.'

He, upon whose head thou hast now endeavoured
to lay thine hands,5 had, for a long time, been thy
fellow and companion.6 You were once wont to run
together.7 Guilty he was not — but let us assume
his guilt.

1 hominum. Ziwsa writes ' omnium non inepte anonymus
quidam apud Du Pin proposuit.' Casaubon adopts Du Pin's
suggestion.

z velum facientibus, Ez. xiii, 18.

3 super omne caput. These words are not to be found here in
RBvbd ; but they are in all the MSS. in i, 2, where St. Optatus
quotes the same passage from Ezekiel.

4 invenistis fideles antiques. Ziwsa says that antiques here =
seniores. 6 in Penance.

6 In the Episcopate, 7 pariter cuvvebatis.

SUBJECTED TO PENANCE n3

In that case, as thou thinkest, he has fallen. See
then (if thou hast read the Apostle) to Whom thou
dost stand, and let him see, to Whom he has fallen.
If thou art a servant, recognise thy Lord, and under
stand that he who, a short time ago, ran together with
thee, to thee has not fallen. Why dost thou invade
Another's power, why dost thou in thy rashness
ascend the tribunal of God ? And though thyself
art guilty, darest to pass judgement upon another ?
Yet thou hast read :

' He who stands, stands to his own Lord, and who falls,
to his own Lord he falls. But his Lord is powerful to raise
him up.' 1

Who then art thou to judge Another's servant ?

That you 2 have no right to touch the Oil bestowed
by God upon a Bishop, you ought to have learnt
from David the servant of God, who was anointed by
Samuel, with the condition that what had already
been given to Saul, should by no means be taken away.3
When, through the command, or the providence, of
God, they were shut up together in one cave, Saul,
who had sinned, came into the power of the youth
David. Saul, although he sees not, is seen, because
(as usually happens to one that passes from the light
of day) he was not able, in the darkness of the shut-
in-air,4 to see the other who was near him. A great

1 Rom. xiv, 4.

2 St. Optatus now passes abruptly back from the singular to
the plural number and refers to the whole Donatist party.

3 Cf. i Kings xxiv.

4 in caligine clausi aeris. So the A1SS. An ingenious suggestion
is antri for aeris. Barthius suggests oris, meaning that Saul's face
was in the darkness. Casaubon seems inclined to accept oris, but
will not admit that oris can mean face. He understands oris
speluncae (the mouth of the cave) .

H4 DAVID VENERATED

army followed the old king. Still he had fallen into
the power of another. David had the chance of
victory in his hands. Without effort he might have
slain his incautious adversary who was wrapt in
security. Without bloodshed, and the clash of arms,
he might have summarily changed war into slaughter.
The opportunity was there. His soldiers were in
favour of this course. The situation urged him on
to snatch a victory. Already he commenced to draw
his sword. His armed hand was now reaching for
his enemy's throat. But the remembrance of the
divine commands completely blocked the way. He
fought against the persuasion of his soldiers, and
resisted the fitness of the circumstances, as if he had
said :

' To no purpose, 0 Victory, dost thou tempt me ; in
vain, O opportunity, dost thou lure me on to triumphs I '

He wished to conquer his foe, but desired even
more to keep the commands of the Lord.

' I will not,' he said, ' lay my hands upon the Lord's
anointed.' 1

He checked his hand and his sword — he feared
to violate the Oil ; he saved his enemy ; and, that
he might accomplish his duty towards his King to
the end, after his death took up his defence.2

You neither fear God, nor regard those who are
your brethren. You have sharpened the razors of
your tongue upon the whetstone of your malice,

1 i Kings xxiv, 7. RBvd omit the non. According to this
reading it becomes a question : ' Shall I lay my hands ? etc.'
8 Cf. 2 Kings i.

THE LORD'S ANOINTED 115

and, trampling underfoot the precepts of Heaven,
have rushed upon the heads of miserable men, that,
after you had slain their leaders, you might drag them
in their blindness and ignorance into bondage. You
hunger after the dignities of innocent priests, with a
hunger so furious that you have made open sepulchres
of your throats. For each separate sepulchre one
funeral is enough, and then it is closed. For your
throats many funerals of many dignities have not by
any means been enough. They still remain open,
seeking whom they may devour. So that with reason
was it said of you :

' Their throat is an open sepulchre ' ; 1

for with cursing you are beforehand, though it has
been written :

' Bless ye and curse not.' 2

If any man has done anything against your will,
you threaten him with horrors and foul menaces ;
and then, since some there are who deserve more evil
than good, you attribute to your bitter curses what
ever has befallen them from the Judgement of God,
or is the just result of their sins. With reason was
it said of you in the thirteenth Psalm :

' Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.' 3

You boast that some men have been known to die
after you have cursed them.

It is certain that it is not lawful to kill. On this
account do you hold yourselves innocent, merely

1 Pss. v, ii and xiii, 3. 2 Rom. xii, 14. 3 Ps. xiii, 3.

I 2

n6 DONATISTS WITHOUT

because you have not used cold steel ? If there be
no murder without steel, the poisoner, also, may
judge himself to be innocent ; and a man need not
deem himself guilty who has killed another by with
drawing his food ; he also, then, may claim to be
guiltless who smothers his victim — still clinging to
life_by stifling his breath. Of murders there are many
kinds, but the name of Death is one. Thou dost
declare with confidence that a man has died through
thy curses. What difference does it make whether
thou smitest him with the sword, or dost strike him
with the tongue ? Beyond doubt thou art a murderer,
if a man, who was alive, has met his death through

thee.

Whoever of thy party has thus acted professes in
vain that he is a Christian, or a priest of God, for he
takes no care to imitate the Mildness of God, though
it is written in Solomon * :

' God hath not made death, nor doth He rejoice in the
destruction of the living.' 2

I do not believe that you are able to forget the
crimes that you have committed throughout several
districts, where you set to work to slay those who were
preaching the Law of God, that is to say, His Prophets,
contrary to His command, who says :

' Lay not your hands upon My Prophets.' 3

Deuterius, Partenius, Donatus and Getulicus,
Bishops of God, you slew with the sword of your tongue.

1 in Salomons, omitted by Pb.

1 Wisdom i, 13. We may note that St. Optatus here (as in iv, 8)
quotes the Book of Wisdom as canonical Scripture.
3 Ps. civ, 15.

MERCY OR PITY 117

You shed the blood, not of their body, but of their
dignity. Afterwards they still lived, but were slain
by you in their dignities — they who were Priests of
God.

It is known to many (and has been proved) that
in the time of persecution some Bishops fell away
through cowardice from the confession of the Name
of God, and offered incense to idols. But never did
any one of those who remained faithful either place
his hand [in Penance] upon the fallen, or command
them to bend their knees1 [as penitents]. Yet you
to-day do to those who preserved Unity 2 that which
was never done by any man to those who offered incense
to idols.3 For it has been written :

' Touch not Mine Anointed, and lay not your hand
upon My prophets.'

God avenges the Oil which is His own, for the sin
belongs to man, but the unction to God. ' Touch
not/ He says, ' Mine Anointed,' in order that when the
sin of man is punished, the Oil, which is God's, be
subjected to no indignity.4 God has reserved to His
own Judgement that which is His own, but you every
where rush upon that which is Another's, and destroy
the happiness of all. For, what greater unhappiness,
than for priests of God to live, and not be what they
once had been ?

Matrons, together with boys and virgins, although xxvi.
they had committed no sin, were compelled by you to boys ami

virgins

1 ut genua figerent. A rite belonging to Public Penance. Cf. were com-
Tertullian de Poen. ix. Pelled

8 post unitatem. 3 post turifi cation em. Donatists

4 ne . . . Oleum, quod Dei est, feriatur. to do

Penance.

uS DONATIST INCONSISTENCY

learn to do Penance, with you for their instructors,
whilst they still remained in possession of their inno
cence and modesty. Is this a small unhappiness ?
You have destroyed both sexes ; you have harassed
all ages. Truly of you has it been said in the thirteenth
Psalm :

' Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways, and the
way of peace they have not known, the fear of God is not
before their eyes.' x

You have prescribed Penance for the people. It
was not performed voluntarily by any man, but it
was enforced by you, nor did you inflict it equally, for
the same periods of time, but arranged everything with
respect of persons. By your command one person did
Penance for a whole year, another for a month, yet
another for hardly a day.

If to consent to unity is (as you will have it) a
sin, if it is the same fault in all, why is there not the
same Penance for the same guilt ?

There is no doubt that the people who believe have
been called Israel, and that the Faithful, one by one,
are the daughters of Israel, that is, those who see God
with their mind,2 and have faith Jn God. Yet you

1 Ps. xiii, 3.

2 Id est qui mente Deum viderint. St. Jerome tells us that it
was commonly thought in his time that Israel signifies vir videos
Deum. Great names can be quoted for this opinion, and we see in
the text that it was taken for granted by St. Optatus. It persisted
even to the days of St. Bernard (cf. serm. 5 ad Fest. Omnium
Sanctorum], notwithstanding the fact that it had been rejected by
St. Jerome (Liber Hebraic. Quaestionum in Genesim, 357) — and
rightly, not only on etymological grounds, but also as being opposed
to the words of Scripture, which he quotes in his text as follows : —
' Vocabitur nomen tuum Israel, quia invaluisti cum Deo, et cum

AND CRUELTY 119

have compelled these people to bend and incline their
necks, have joined their heads in a row, and made of
them a crowd of penitents.

These are the Faithful over whom God grieves,
saying, by the mouth of Ezekiel the Prophet : ' Woe
to you, daughters of Israel who mend pillows/ *
appurtenances of the neck, to place them under the
elbow and under the hand — that is, under your elbows
and under your hands, when you stretch the veils
of Penance over the heads of these men and women.

The extent of your wickedness and rage I have now
set forth, and I have pointed out your pride.

It remains to make clear your folly also, but this
I will do in my Sixth Book.

hominibus valebis ' (Gen. xxxiii, 28). The mistake probably arose
from the next verse but one : — ' Vocavitque Jacob nomen loci
illius Phanuel dicens : Vidi Deum facie ad faciem.' St. Jerome
understands Israel to mean ' Prince with God ' (Princeps cum Deo) .
It seems, however, more likely that the true meaning is ' One who
wrestled with God.' (From Hebrew Sarah - to fight, to strive,
and El - God.) Thus the LXX tin evlffx^cras pera 0eoD. And
this sense is in harmony with the context. The late Professor
Driver (see Article on Jacob in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible,
vol. ii, p. 530) writes : ' The name Israel, meaning (on the analogy
of other names similarly formed) God persists (or perseveres), is
interpreted as suggesting the meaning Perseverer with God.'
Professor Driver also tells us that Professor ' Sayce's derivation from
yashar, to be upright, to direct (!), has nothing to recommend it.'
(The note of exclamation is Driver's.)

1 Vae filiabus Israel, quae sarciunt cervicalia. We have here
another mystical reference to Ez. xiii, 18 which runs as follows in
the Vulgate : ' Vae quae consuunt pulvillos sub omni cubito
manus; et faciunt cervicalia sub capite universae aetatis ad
capiendas animas : et cum caperent animas populi Mei, vivificabant
animas eorum.'

BOOK THE THIRD

I. The

severities
against
the Dona-
tists were
provoked
by them
selves, and
Catholics
ought not
to be
blamed
for them.

THE FOUR REASONS ON ACCOUNT OF WHICH IT WAS
NOT POSSIBLE TO BRING ABOUT UNITY WITHOUT
SEVERITY.

BECAUSE THE SCHISMATICS HAD BUILT CHURCHES
' THAT WERE NOT WANTED/

BECAUSE DONATUS OF CARTHAGE HAD APPEALED TO
THE EMPEROR TO BRING ABOUT UNITY.

BECAUSE DONATUS OF BAGAIA COLLECTED BANDS
OF ARMED MEN TO STOP THE WORK OF UNITY.

BECAUSE NONE OF THOSE THINGS WITH WHICH THE
WORK OF UNITY HAS BEEN REPROACHED CAME
TO PASS IN OPPOSITION TO THE WILL OF GOD.

I HAVE written in my second Book (as I think, at
sufficient length) concerning the Church, which is the
Bride of Christ, and about her Endowments, and of
the Saviour's inheritance. It remains for me to show,
in the first place, the errors of the schismatics ; secondly,
to point out how it came to pass that unity was enforced ;
and thirdly, to prove who brought it about that an
armed force was sent.

That much severity was shown by the makers of
unity cannot be denied. But why impute this to

RESPONSIBILITY OF FIRST DONATISTS 121

Leontius, Macarius or Taurinus l ? Ascribe it rather
to your own ancestors, who, as the prophet has written,
' have themselves eaten sour grapes, that your teeth
may be set on edge.' 2

They are primarily responsible, who divided the
people of God and built basilicas which were not
wanted.3

Secondly, Donatus of Carthage ought to be blamed,
for it was in consequence of his appeal 4 that an attempt
was made to enforce unity at the next opportunity.

Thirdly, Donatus of Bagaia, who got together a
mob of madmen, so that Macarius asked for the help
of an armed force, in order to protect himself and the
interests which had been committed to his care.

Then came armed men ' with their quivers/ 5 and
' every town was filled with those who shout.' 6 Unity

1 We find the names of Ursacius and Paulus joined to those
of Macarius and Leontius in iii, 4. (Cf. also iii, 10, and for Taurinus
Hi, 4 ; iii, 12.)

2 Jeremiah xxi, 29 : ' ut vobis stupescerent dentes, ipsi uvas
acidas comederunt.' The Vulgate has : ' Patres comederunt uvam
acerbam et dentes filiorum obstupuerunt.'

3 Basilicas non necessarias. We find this expression many times
in Optatus. It is first used by him in i, 10, where the churches of
heretics are said to have no relationship with Christ and are con
trasted with His lawful Bride. Elsewhere it is a technical phrase
and means simply that the Donatist churches are ' not wanted.'
It evidently is a quotation — probably from a judgement, either of
Miltiades or of Aries — or possibly the words were those of Eunomius
and Olimpius (i, 26) . The Donatists erected new churches, refusing
to go to the old ones. There is no doubt a juetaa-ts. The intention
of the inventor of the expression was to avoid hurting the feelings
of the Donatists by calling their new churches schismatical. They
are simply non necessariae — ' not wanted.'

* qui provocavit—to the Emperor— to his horror (cf. Appendix,
PP- 393, 396, 397).

5 Cf. Is. xxii, 6 : et Elam sumpsit pharetram.

6 repleta est unaquaeque civitas vociferantium. St. Optatus in

122

LESSONS FROM THE HISTORY

was proclaimed, and you all ' took to flight.' 1 To
no man was it said ' Deny God ' ; to none was the
commandment given ' Burn the Scriptures ' ; to
none was it said ' Place incense in the censer ' ;
or ' Pull down the basilicas.' These are the commands
which give birth to martyrs. Unity was proclaimed.
There were merely exhortations that the people
should assemble in one place, to pray together to
God and His Christ. At first there were no threats 2 ;
no one had seen a weapon or a prison ; there were,
as I have said, exhortations merely. Yet you were
all filled with fear ; you fled ; you trembled — so that
which has been written in the fifty-second Psalm was
certainly said of you :

' They trembled for fear where there was no fear.' 8

Then all your Bishops, with their clergy, ' took to
flight.' Some died. The ' more hardy ' were ' cap
tured and banished to a distance.' 4

II. These
things
happened
to the
Donatists
through
the just
punish
ment of
God.

Still, none of these things was done at our instiga
tion, none by our advice, none with our privity, none
by our aid. They were all done through the grief of
God,5 (who grieved bitterly,6) to punish your sin against

his next chapter thus quotes Is. xxii, 2. Du Pin must have for
gotten this when, without MS. authority, he supplied clamoribus
after vociferantium.

1 Is. xxii, 3. a terror (in active sense).

3 Ps. lii, 6.

4 qui forliores sunt etc. Cf. Is. xxii, 3 — quoted thus in the next
chapter : ' Omnes principes tui in fug am conversi sunt, et qui capti
sunt graviter alligati etfortiores tui longe fugati sunt.'

5 in dolore Dei. Cf. iv, 9 (quod dolet Deus) and i, 2.

8 Is. xxii, 4. St. Optatus has led up to this quotation by his
various references to this chapter of Isaiah.

OF THE YOUNG TOBIAS 123

the water of Baptism which, contrary to His command,
you had moved a second time,1 drawing to yourselves,2
as it were, the water of the ancient pool.3 I know not
whether it contained that Fish by which is understood
Christ,4 the Fish captured, as we read in the book of
the Patriarch Tobias— captured in the River Tigris,
of which the gall and the liver were taken by [young]
Tobias as a protection for his wife Sara, and to give
sight to his father in his blindness — that Fish through
the entrails of which 5 Asmodeus,6 the devil, was put
to flight by Sara the maiden (by whom is understood
the Church), and blindness was removed from Tobias.7
This is that Fish, which in Baptism, through the

1 By rebaptising Catholics.

z transdiwentes ad vos aquam antiquae piscinae. Cf. Is. xxii, g,
which St. Optatus will soon quote from his version : ' Quoniam
convertistis aquam antiquae piscinae ad civitatem vestram.'

3 The reference is to the pool of Bethsaida (cf. John v, 4), the
waters of which were regarded by Tertullian as typical of Baptism
(De Baptism, v and vi). The Angel was only allowed to move the
pool once each time for healing. Optatus looks upon this fact as
a figure of the unity of Baptism.

4 The metaphor here is slightly changed. The ' piscina ' is
understood as a lake full of fish. St. Optatus asks sarcastically
whether Christ was in that lake, meaning that the sacrilegious
rebaptisms of the Donatists, in this unlike True Baptism, gave
Christ to no man. It is well known, of course, that the Fish was a
principal emblem of Christ among the early Christians.

5 eiusdem piscis visceribus.

6 Cf. Paradise Lost, iv, 168-170 :

' Than Asmodeus, with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouse
Of Tobit's son.'

: 7 See Tobias vi, 9-10. St. Optatus mystically applies this
narrative. Sara is the Church which puts the Evil One to flight
through Christ. Christ is the one protection of His Church ; by
Christ alone, through His Church, is blindness removed from men.

124 THE FONT

Invocation of God,1 is placed in the waters of the font,
so that what had been water is, from the Fish,2 also
called ' piscina.'

This is that Fish, the name of which in Greek con
tains in its one name alone, through each of its letters,
a number of holy names, IX@T2, that is to say in Latin,
lesus Christus, Dei Filius, Salvator — Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, the Saviour? This ' piscina,' which in the
whole Catholic Church throughout the world is joyfully
filled with saving waters for the life of the human race,
you have drawn away 4 according to your own wills ;
and have made null that one only Baptism 5 (through
which walls have been built up for the protection of
men6), and have made as it were other walls,7 building

1 per invocationem. The Invocation of God, that is to say, the
Blessing of the Font, puts Christ (the Fish) into what was mere
empty water, so that it becomes a Fishpond. But in the second
Baptism of the Donatists there was no Christ, therefore no symbolic
Fish.

2 a pisce.

3 Cf. Tertullian (De Baptismo i) : ' Sed nos pisciculi secundum
nostrum lesum Christum in quo nascimur, nee aliter quam

in aqua permanendo salvi sumus.'

4 transduxistis once more. Cf. Is. xxii, 9.

5 solvistis singulare Baptisma.

6 ex quo Baptismate hominibus murifacti sunt ad tutelam. The
reference is to Is. xxii, n, 12: ' Et deicistis muros Hierusalem,
ut faceretis alteram munitionem et constituistis aquam inter duas
munitiones et ad piscinam antiquam (= the first — the Catholic
Baptism) adtendere noluistis.' The thought of St. Optatus is that
the Donatists by rebaptising pulled down the first wall and built
up a second (alteros muros, duas munitiones}. This was to build
an edifice on a ruin. Hence, as he will say immediately, comes the
sorrow of God filiam esse contritam. (' Recedite a Me, amare flebo.
Nolite incumbere ut consolemini Me super vastitate filiae populi
Mei.' Is. xxii, 4. Vulgate.)

7 Cf. iii. 10 : ' foras exeuntes . . . parietem fecerunt,' etc.

THE GRIEF AND ANGER OF GOD 125

an unworthy building, since you have not been able
to build up without throwing down.

And what kind of building can that be which is
built out of a ruin ? l This it is over which God grieves
and weeps, through the prophet Isaiah,2 saying that
the daughter of His people (generis) was laid low.
For it is the genus of God to have no genus* He is
of Himself,4 and He remaineth for ever. And like
to Him in this is the water, of which we do not read
that it was created.5 To avenge the injury done to
this water,6 God points out His Tears, which you have
caused Him. These He declares can be dried by no
consolation, addressing you by Isaiah His prophet :

' Depart from me, I will weep bitterly. No one will be
able to comfort me, for the laying low of the daughter
of my people.' 7

In this passage our innocence is defended, whilst
God with grief makes clear His wrath against you,
giving the cause and alleging the reason.

Besides, He does not say ' in Sion,' 8 for it is not

Cf. iii, 10.

Cf. Is. xxii, 4.

We here have another ' paronomasia ' or play upon words, of
which St. Optatus, like many of the Fathers, was so fond.

ex se est.

The reference is to the description of the Creation of the World
in Genesis, where we read : ' The Spirit of God was borne over the
waters,' without any account of the creation of the waters them
selves.

6 in cuius aquae iniuria.

7 Isaiah'xxii, 4 : ' Missum Me facite, amare plorabo : nemo poterit
consolare Me in contritione filiae generis Mei.' The Vulgate has
' vastatione ' for ' contritione.'

8 St. Optatus is continuing his argument from Isaiah xxii, where,
instead of The Burden of the Valley of the Vision, he evidently read

126 THE LORD LOVETH

in the whole of Sion,1 but only in its valley2 that
judgements were delivered. Not that Mount Sion which
in Syrian Palestine is separated by only a small river
from the walls of Jerusalem,3 on the summit of which
there is not the great plain, on which were 4 the seven
synagogues, whither the Jewish people might assemble
and learn the law given to Moses — but where no law
suits were heard and no judgements were given by
any, for it was a place of teaching, not of controversial
discussion. (If anything of this sort had to be done,
it was done within the walls of Jerusalem.) There
fore was it written in Isaiah the prophet :

' The Law shall go forth from Sion and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem.' 5

The Vision of the Valley of Sion. St. Jerome tells us that the LXX
had Verbum Vallis Sionis for Onus Vallis Visionis. Optatus'
point here is that the subject of this prophecy is not the actual
Mount Sion, but the spiritual Sion, which is the Catholic Church.
(In v, 4 he writes : ' Sion Ecclesiam esse in tertio libro probavimus.')

1 In tola Sion. Only G has tota, but it seems to have probably
slipped out of the older MSS., as a little later Optatus has in Mo
monte.

2 Is. xxii, 5. Vulgate In voile visionis.

3 We have here a digression which shows, and probably was
intended to show, St. Optatus' acquaintance with the topography
of Jerusalem. Sion was outside of Jerusalem. We read as follows
in the narrative of a Bordeaux pilgrim to the Holy Land, to be
found in Itinera Hierosolymitana (CSEL. vol. 29, p. 22) : ' Item
exeuntibus Hierusalem ut ascendas Sion, in parte sinistra et deorsum
in Valle iuxta murum est piscina, quae dicitur Silua [i.e. Siloe] . . .
Intus autem intra murum Sion paret locus, ubi palatium habuit
David. Et septem synagogae, quae illic fuerunt, una tantum
remansit, reliquae autem arantur et seminantur, sicut Isaias
propheta dixit.'

* fuer ant. The Bordeaux pilgrim, whom I have just quoted,
wrote in 333, about thirty years before St. Optatus. Nothing else
seems to be known concerning these seven synagogues.

5 Is. ii, 3. The topographical digression finishes with this
quotation.

THE GATES OF SIGN 127

It was not therefore on this Mount Sion that Isaiah
beheld the valley, but on the holy mountain, that is
the Church, which has reared her head throughout all
the Roman world, beneath the whole expanse of
Heaven.

This is the mountain on which the Son of God
rejoices that He is made King by God the Father,
saying :

' That He hath made me King upon His holy hill of
Sion ' ] —

that is, over the Church, of which He is King and
Spouse and Head — not on the hill [in Palestine],2
where there were no gates beloved by God, but on
the mount, by which the Church is spiritually signified.
The gates of this Church are entered by the innocent,
the just and the merciful, by the pure of heart, and
the virgins. These are the gates of which the Holy
Ghost makes mention, through David, in the eighty-
sixth Psalm, when He says :

' Her foundations are upon the holy hills ; the Lord
loveth the Gates of Sion ' 3—

not the gates of that material mountain,4 where
now, after the triumphs of the Emperor Vespasian,
there are no gates, and scarce any traces of its ancient
ruins are to be found.

Wherefore, the spiritual Sion is the Church, in which
Christ was made King by God the Father — that is in
the whole world, where there is One Catholic Church

1 Psalm ii, 6. » The material hill.

3 Psalm Ixxxvi, i.

4 non illius corporalis niontis.

128 SION IS THE CHURCH

... for the most holy prophet David bears witness in
another place also that Sion is the Church :

' Laud thy God, 0 Sion, for he hath made fast the bars
of thy gates. He hath blessed thy children within thee.' l

We understand the various provinces of the whole
world to represent the various valleys of the mountain.2
And since Isaiah had not his vision of the whole
mountain, but of one valley, that means in Africa alone,
for in Africa alone your fathers were pleased to build
fresh temples, although the first were amply sufficient.
In Africa alone walls were cast down, and in order
that walls might be made 3 the water of the holy
font was turned to a wrong purpose, and novelty
was introduced by you against antiquity, and water
of human origin was provided, against that which is
divine.4

1 Psalm cxlvii, i, 2.

2 per singulas provincias totius orbis voiles singulas intellegimus
montis. Casaubon suggests that St. Optatus wrote this by a slip
of the pen instead of per singulas voiles montis intellegimus singulas
provincias totius orbis. As an alternative he conjectures that we
should read praeterea for per. But surely St. Optatus may have
thought it more elegant to write it as the MSS. give it. ' By the
provinces we understand the valleys.'

8 in qua sola deiecti sunt muri et, ut fierent muri, aqua sanctae
piscinae transversa est. Ziwsa brackets ut fierent muri, which is
omitted by RBGv, evidently regarding it as incomprehensible. But
it represents ' ut faceretis alteram munitionem ' in Optatus' version
of Is. xxii, 20. RBv have aqua sancta et piscina for aqua sanctae
piscinae. The reference is still to the rebaptism by Donatists.
They who were already Christians were, by an impious novelty,
rebaptised, that they might become Christians. (Cf. v, 3 : ' Qui
rebaptizatur, iam Christianus fuerat; quomodo dici potest iterum
Christianus ? ')

4 ' In una valle, hoc est sola Africa, in qua sola, cum sufficerent
templaDei, quaefuerant, alia facere voluerunt principes vestri, in qua
sola deiecti sunt muri, et, ut fierent muri, aqua sanctae piscinae trans-

THE VALLEY IS AFRICA

129

Chiding the valley of Sion, God challenges all this,1
demanding * :

' What aileth you that you have gone up into superfluous
temples ? Every city is full of those who clamour. Their
wounded were not wounded by the sword, and those who
are dead in thee are not dead in battle. From the smallest
to the greatest all thy princes are in error, wandering upon
the hills.3 They have been turned to flight, and those
who have been taken have been grievously bound.4 And
thy strong ones have been put to flight to a far distance.
Let me go, for I will weep bitterly. No one will be able to

versa est, et novitas contra antiquitatem a vobis instituta est, et aqua
humana contra divinam ordinata est ' (cf. v, 3 etc.). By aqua humana
is meant water used by rebaptisers. By aqua divina is meant the
water used in Baptism, which, in accordance with Catholic doctrine,
is one, and once for all. This is a sort of summing up in which
St. Optatus endeavours, with considerable ingenuity, to show once
more that Is. xxii, i-n has reference to the Donatists. We shall
perhaps see this more clearly if we place his words in juxtaposi
tion with his Latin version of Isaiah, which he knew to be familiar
to his readers.

St. Optatus.

Cum suffice? ent templa Dei, alia

jacere voluerunt
Principes vestri
In qua sola deiecti sunt muri
Ut fierent muri

Aqua sanctae piscinae transversa

est
Novitas contra antiquitatem

Aqua humana contra divinam

Isaias.

Ascendistis in templa super-

vacanea.'

Omnes principes tui.'
Deiicistis muros Hierusalem.'
Ut faceretis alteram muni-

tionem . . . inter duas

munitiones.'
Convertistis aquam antiquae

piscinae.'
Ad piscinam antiquam adten-

dere noluistis.'
Nee ad Eum . . . qui

creavit illam.'

1 hoc totum interrogat.
8 Is. xxii, i.

3 err ore sunt . . . errantes in montibus.

4 graviter adligati.

I3o THE ELAMITES

console me for the devastation of the daughter of my people.
And the Elamites l shall come up with their quivers.'

Elamites in the Latin tongue 2 are called choirs of
the camps.3 And he goes on to say :

' Your inmost recesses shall be made public,4 and the
secrets of the House of Israel shall be laid bare.' 5

This has happened in Africa alone, and God pointed
out for what reason all this was done, blaming you with
these words :

' Because 6 you have diverted the water of the old pool
into your city, and have cast down the walls of Jerusalem
to build another wall, and have made a pool between the
two walls. You have paid no heed to the old pool, nor
to Him who created it in the beginning.' 7

So you see, my brother Parmenian, that you, by
whose first fathers the seed of all these things was
sown, find yourselves burdened with the crop.

1 St. Jerome (in loco) writes that Elam = ascensus eorutn.
He adds that Elamites = contemptores.

a Casaubon conjectures that Optatus by a mistake of memory
thought that Elamite was found for Sulamite in Cant, vii, I : ' Quid
videbis in Sulamite nisi choros castrorum ? '

8 cfiori castrorum seems to refer to the military bands — the singers
of the camp.

4 penetralia vestra defer entur ad publicum. Cf . Is. xxii, 8, Vulgate:
' Et revelabitur operimentum ludae.' LXX ' Et revelabunt portas
ludae, et aspicient die illo in domos electas civitatis.'

5 et seer eta domus Israhel nudabuntur. Cf. Vulgate : ' Et
scissuras civitatis David videbitis.' LXX : ' Et revelabunt
abscondita domorum arcis David.'

6 quoniam. ' Because.' This is emphatic! This was the cause
of whatever violence may have been done by the troops of Macarius.

7 Is. xxii, ii sq : ' You refused to pay heed to the old pool ' —
that is to say, you would not count the first Baptism as valid, and
you despised ' Him, who created it in the beginning,'

DONATUS OF CARTHAGE 131

Secondly, Donatus of Carthage was responsible, for ^[j Thfe
through his poisonous wiles1 the question of [effecting] Donatus.
unity was first mooted.

I shall be able to show that the makers of unity did
nothing at our instigation, nor of their own wickedness,
but that everything happened through provocatory
causes, which were set in motion by Donatus of
Carthage, in his lightness of heart, and were due to
the actions of individuals controlled by him, whilst he
was struggling to be thought great. Is there anyone
that can be ignorant of all this excepting yourself ;
for, since you were a stranger,2 they have been able
to get you to believe idle fables ?

Again, who can deny a fact, to which the whole
of Carthage is the leading witness, that the Emperor
Constans did not originally send Paul and Macarius to
bring about unity, but to be his almoner, in order
that the poor people 3 in the various churches might
be afforded assistance, by means of which they might
breathe anew, be clothed, fed, and rejoice ?

But when they came to Donatus, your father, and
told him why they had come, he, as was usual with
him, fell into a rage, and burst out with these words :

' What has the Emperor to do with the Church ? '

And, from the fountain of his levity, he poured forth
torrents of reproaches no less evil-sounding than those
with which he had once upon a time not hesitated to

1 veneficio. G has beneficio, but there can be little doubt that
veneficio, which has the support of all the other MSS., is the true
reading. Beneficio is obviously a guess, to escape the difficulty
of veneficio.

2 quia peregrinus es (cf. i, 5 ; ii, 4 ; ii, 7).

3 paupertas.

K 2

132 ECCLESIA EST IN REPUBLICA

assail the prefect Gregory — calling him ' Gregory, the
stain upon the Senate, the disgrace of Prefects,'
and the like. Gregory replied to him with patience
worthy of a Bishop.1 Copies of these letters exist
and are in the mouths of many chanted everywhere.2
Then Donatus — against the commands of the Apostle
Paul — planned to do a wrong to those in high places,
and to kings,3 on behalf of whom, if he had listened
to the Apostle, he would have prayed every day, since
this is the teaching of the blessed Apostle Paul :

' Pray for kings and for powers, that with them we may
lead a quiet and tranquil life.' 4

For the State is not in the Church, but the Church
is in the State, that is to say, in the Roman Empire,5

1 patientia episcopali.

• multoYum ore ubique cantantur. Cf. St. Augustine (Retract.
i, 21) : ' ut ore multorum ubique cantatur.'

3 potestatibus et regibus iniuriam facere.

4 i Tim. ii, i.

8 non enitn respublica est in Ecclesia, sed Ecclesia in republica
est, id est in Imperio Romano. It had from very early times been
the custom in the Christian Church to pray for the prosperity of the
Emperor and the Empire. The preservation and the well-being
of the Christian Church was considered to be in a certain sense
dependent on the preservation and the well-being of the Roman
Empire, inasmuch as the fall of the Empire was commonly expected
to synchronise with the coming of Antichrist and the end of the
world — a time of utmost stress and affliction for the Church of
Christ on earth. It must also be remembered that St. Optatus is
writing of the local conditions of his time. In no sense could the
Empire, as a whole, be said to be in the Church (even theologically),
for as a matter of fact a considerable part of the Empire was still
pagan. On the other hand the Church was confined within the
temporal jurisdiction of the Empire and overlapped by it on every
side. Thus Lord Bryce writes with reference to this passage in
Optatus : ' Christianity as well as civilisation became conterminous
with the Roman Empire ' (Bryce's The Holy Roman Empire, p. IT,

RESPUBLICA NON EST IN ECCLESIA 133

which Christ calls Libanus in the Canticle of Canticles,
saying :

' Come, my spouse, whom I have found,1 come from
Libanus,'

that is to say, from the Roman Empire, where are
the holy offices of the priesthood,2 and modesty and
virginity, which exist not amongst foreign peoples,3
and which, if they did exist, could not be safe
from outrage. With reason does Paul teach us that
we must pray for kings and powers, even though the
Emperor be living a pagan life.4 How much more,
then, if he be a Christian — how much more if he fears
God, and is pious, and full of mercy, as facts prove
this one 5 to have been ?

For he had sent ornaments to the Houses of God,
he had sent alms for the poor, nothing to Donatus 6 !
Why, then, did Donatus act like a madman ? Why
was he full of anger ? Why did he refuse the gifts
which had been sent ? For when the commissioners
announced that they were going through the different

eighth edition) . The Church therefore had at that period no claim
upon the Empire, as such, excepting to be treated with justice ;
whereas the Empire had this claim upon the Church, that the
Church, being an external organisation within itself (though in a
different order), should strive to promote peace and harmony and
avoid unnecessary antagonism. Such good offices and hearty
co-operation the temporal ruler has always a right to expect
from the spiritual society within his borders. This the Catholic
Church consistently remembered ; Donatus as consistently
forgot.

1 veni, sponsa Mea inventa (cf. Cant, iv, 8).

2 sacerdotia sancta. 3 in barbaris sentibus.
4 qui gentilitev viveret. ° Constans.

0 nihil Donato. Perhaps this should be translated : ' This
was nothing to Donatus.'

134 THE ALMSGIVING OF THE

provinces, and that they would give alms to those
who were willing to accept them, he declared that
he had sent letters everywhere in advance to forbid
that anything which had been brought should be
distributed anywhere amongst the poor. Oh, this
is the way to console the wretched, to provide for the
needs of the poor, to come to the aid of sinners !
God cries out :

' It is I who have made both the rich man and the poor

man.

Not that He was unable to give to the poor man also.
But, if He had given to the poor as well as to the rich,
the sinner would not be able to discover any means of
helping himself. On this account has it been written
that :

' Even as water puts out a fire, so do almsdeeds wipe
out sin.' 2

It is certain that both are now with God — the one
who wished to give, and the other who stood in the
way of his giving. Well, if God were now to say to
Donatus ' O Bishop, what do you wish to make out
Constans to have been ? If he was innocent, why
would you not receive from an innocent giver ? If he
was a sinner, why did you not permit alms to be given
by him, for whose sake I made the poor man ? ' When
questioned after this fashion, what sort of face will he
show ? Why in his levity and madness did he work
so hard to keep good things from so many3 poor
people ?

1 Proverbs xxii, 2. 2 Eccles. iii, 33.

* tantis (cf. Vulgate : sed haec quid sunt inter tantos ? loan, vi, 9).

EMPEROR CONSTANS 135

He believed that he held dominion over Carthage ;
and since there is no one superior to the Emperor
excepting God alone (who made the Emperor), Donatus,
in raising himself above the Emperor, had already, as
it were, passed the boundaries apportioned to humanity,
so that he almost regarded himself, not as man, but
as God, when he refused to revere him, who, after God,
was feared by mankind.

Finally, the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of the
prophet Ezekiel, rebukes the prince of Tyre, that is
to say, the prince of Carthage, with these words :

' O Son of man, speak against the prince of Tyre,
saith the Lord God, because thine heart has been puffed
up, and thou hast said I am God/ 1

That Tyre is Carthage is shown, in the first place,
by Isaiah, when, after describing the vision of Tyre,
he goes on :

' Howl, O ye ships of Carthage/ 2

In the second place this is also proved by profane
literature,3 and, if there be any other city called by
this name, there is no other in which any of those things
were done which are known to have been done at
Carthage.

' Speak,' says the Lord, ' against the prince of
Tyre/ He does not command the prophet to speak
against any secular king,4 nor was he to speak to many,

1 Ez. xxviii, 2.

8 Is. xxiii, i. The Vulgate has naves mans; the Hebrew
' Ships of Tarshish ' ; the Old Latin (as we see from St. Optatus
and St. Ambrose) naves Carthaginis ; the LXX irXoto

3 mundanae litter ae.

* non adversus saecularem aliquem regeni.

136 DONATUS OF CARTHAGE

but to one — that is to Donatus, Bishop of Carthage.
For it was not fitting for Ezekiel, whose words I
have just quoted,1 to compare to any man, excepting
to a prince, that Bishop who claimed for himself (as
we have said) princedom over Carthage, who puffed
up his heart, and thought himself to be superior to
men and wished to have even all his own colleagues
beneath him — from whose offerings he would never
deign to accept aught. Now, his conscience, and
Christ his God bear witness to this — and the complaints
of many.2 For in his very intercourse with others, he
did them this wrong, that he acted in some secret
way or other, alone by himself, and afterwards only
in a perfunctory manner3 mingled with the rest.

1 It may be well to give here in English those sentences
in Ez. xxviii, 2-g, which, as Optatus thinks, may be applied to
Donatus the Great. (We possess an African text of the passage in
Tyconius Donatista, but I translate from the Vulgate.)

2. ' O Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre : Thus saith the Lord
God : Because thine heart has been puffed up, and thou hast said
" I am God, and I have sat on the Chair of God [Tyconius has
habitationem Dei habitavi] in the heart of the sea," although thou
art a man and not God,

3. Behold thou art wiser than Daniel. [St. Optatus, St. Jerome,
St. Augustine and Tyconius read with the LXX Numquid tu
sapientior quam Daniel ?]

5. And thine heart has been lifted up in thy strength ;

6. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God : Because thine heart has
been lifted up as though it were the heart of God,

8. Thou shalt die the death of them that are slain [Tyconius
has morte vulneratorurn] in the heart of the sea.

9. Wilt thou still say before them that slay thee " I am God,"
whereas thou art a man and not God, and art in the hand of them
that slay thee ? '

2 in qua re media est fides, etc. Du Pin explains thus : ' Testis
est conscientia eius.' Albaspinaeus understands Fides to mean Lex
Christiana.

3 ut solus secreto nescio quid ageret et postea ceteris perpmctorie
misceretur. Du Pin thinks that by the first phrase of this sentence

THE PRINCE OF TYRE 137

In this fashion was his heart puffed up, so that in
the end he seemed to himself no longer to be man, but
God.

Moreover, in the mouths of the people he was
seldom called a Bishop, but was spoken of as ' Donatus
of Carthage.' And deservedly was he both addressed
and chided as Prince of Tyre (that is of Carthage),
because he was the first of the Bishops,1 as though
he were something more than the rest. And whilst
he wished to have nothing common to mankind,2 he
lifted up his heart, not like the heart of a man, but like
the heart of a god,3 since he desired to be something
more than other men.4

But God follows after Donatus with these words :

' Thou hast said, I am God.' 5

For though he did not make use of this expression,
still he either himself accomplished, or suffered, that
which would bring about its result.6 He puffed up
his heart in such a way as to think that no other man
ought to be compared with him, and, in the swelling of
his own mind, he seemed to himself to be something
higher than the others. Since whatever is above men,
in a sort of way is God.7

it is to be inferred that Donatus offered the Divine Mysteries by
himself, and held aloof from the public meetings of the other Bishops,
clergy or faithful, with whom he would only mix from time to time
(perfunctorie) as a great act of condescension.

sc. of the Bishops of Africa, where Carthage was the chief See.

nihil humamtm voluit habere.

Ez. xxviii, 6.

a cetevis hominibus aliquid plus esse.

Ez. xxviii, 2.

quod effectum huius vocis implevet.

quia quicquid est supra homines, iam quasi Deus est.

138 PARS

Besides, whereas Bishops ought to serve God, he
demanded so much for himself from his Bishops, that
they all had to venerate him with no less fear than
they venerated God — because to himself he seemed to
be God. And though men are wont to swear by God
alone, he allowed men to swear by him, as if by God.
If this were done by any man in mistake, it was his
duty to forbid it. As, then, he did not forbid it, to
himself he seemed to be God. Again, whilst all those
who believed in Christ were, before the day of his
insolence, called Christians, he ventured to divide the
people with God, so that those who followed him were
no longer called Christians, but Donatists, and when
any people visited him from any province of Africa,
he did not ask those questions (which the custom of
men always calls for) about the weather, about peace
and war, about the harvest, but to everyone who came
into his presence, he spoke thus :

' How goes my party in your part of the world ? ' l

As though he had now really divided the people
with God, so that, without faltering, he dared to call
it his ' party.' For, from his time to the present day,
whenever any action is brought before the public
courts on ecclesiastical affairs; all [of his sect] have, on
being questioned (as we read in the records of the
proceedings), spoken in such a way as to assert that
they belong to the party of Donatus. Concerning
Christ they kept silence. And what am I to say of
their clergy, when I read the petition which (as I have
stated in the first book 2) was sent to Const antine,

1 quid apud vos agitur de parte rnea ? 2 i, 22.

DONATI 139

subscribed by Bishops in this manner : ' Given by
Capito and by Nasutius, Dignus, and the other Bishops
of the party of Donatus ' ? 1 They, we know, made
their complaints against Bishops, who; whilst they did
not belong to the party of Donatus, dwelt in the
Catholic Church of Christ.2

Since, then, Donatus did not live as a Bishop amongst
his fellow-Bishops, and refused to be a man amongst
men, it is certain that he puffed up his heart and
seemed to himself to be God. And as for the Bishops
by whom you were consecrated, their names, my
brother Parmenian, are well known to you, and you
know also where they lived, and which of them made
a petition to return home — in your company. You
know, too, who it was to whom they made this petition,
and you know his character.3 Now, all this we have
learned through their having brought before the judges
in Africa this same old petition in which they had
written : ' Given by the Bishops of the party of
Donatus.' 4

What reply, I ask, will they make in the approaching
Judgement of God, since they in this world acknow
ledged equivalently 5 that they belonged, not to the
Church of Christ, but freely confessed that they were

1 Cf. note 3, p. 43.

2 in Christi Catholica habitabant.

3 quorum nomina bene nosti, et ubi fuerint non ignovas, et qui
vel a quo petierint et qualem rogaverint, ut redirent et tecum redire
potuissent, et nos didicimus, etc. St. Optatus quite lost his thread
in this long sentence, where we find one of his numerous anacolutha.
In my English rendering I have endeavoured to make it gram
matical — involved it must always remain.

4 Cf. once more note 3, p. 43.
6 alto modo = aliquo modo.

140 SAPIENTIOR

of the party of Donatus, though it is written in the
Gospel that Christ has said :

' He that confesses Me before men, him will I confess
before My Father ' ? l

These men confessed, not Christ, but Donatus.

That the evidence by which clearly to identify the
person of Donatus might be by no means scanty there
is yet another proof, with which the above-mentioned
accusation was closed. God had said that Donatus2
would not die upon the earth.3 That this is the case is
known to all. He dwelt in the house of God, but lived
in the heart of the sea. We read that the sea always
signifies the world. It was not enough for him to be
beloved by some Christian people, but, by reason of his
acquaintance with worldly letters, he was also in the
heart of the sea, that is, was beloved by the world,4
and on account of his knowledge seemed to himself
to be wise. But of this wisdom of his God made
little,5 saying :

' Art thou more wise than Daniel ? ' 6

With how great reason, and how well, has been
humbled that wisdom of his, which made him think
himself wiser than was Daniel (when he refused the
gifts of the King), and would not accept that which
had been sent by a Christian Emperor. And he

1 Matt, x, 32. Luke xii, 8.

z ilium.

3 The reference is to Ez. xxviii, 8 : ' Morieris in interitu occisorum
in corde marts ' — in the heart of the sea.

* id est in amove saeculi. That is, he was beloved by worldly
people.

5 hanc sapientiam eius evacuavit Deus.

6 Ez. xxviii, 3.

GUAM DANIEL 141

seemed to himself to be a new Daniel, or to have been
raised above Daniel in wisdom, for we read that Daniel,
when he was once required to receive presents from
King Balthassar — a ring; a chain and the rest-
answered thus :

' Thy gifts to thyself, O King/ 1

He answered with wisdom, and did not hurl abuse at
the King, and did not blame him for what he offered,
but put the matter off for a while.

Quite otherwise Donatus, who both spoke to Con-
stans as abusive words as he knew how, and refused
what had been destined for the poor. We can see
the wisdom of holy Daniel in not accepting that day
the gifts that were offered him. For the question that
they asked him was still [known only] in Heaven, and
it would have been the act of a fool to receive any
kind of reward for that which he had not yet in his
power to reveal. Therefore he was for the time un
willing to accept these presents. Afterwards, when
God showed him what he should say to the King,
he told it to Balthassar, and, later on, gladly accepted
that which he was known formerly to have rejected.2
Deservedly, therefore, does God rebuke the Prince
of Tyre (that is Donatus), when He asks him :

' Art thou more wise than Daniel ? ' 3

1 Dan. v, 17.

2 St. Optatus evidently thinks that Daniel could not answer
Belshazzar on the same day, but gave his interpretation the next
day and then accepted the King's gifts with joy ! This seems to
us an exceedingly odd notion, and curiously enough there is no
suggestion of it in the Book of Daniel, so one wonders from what
source Optatus derived it.

3 Ez. xxviii, 3.

142 PAUL AND MACARIUS

But oh ! how far removed is the presumption of
Donatus from the character of Daniel ! For what
Balthassar gave, he gave to Daniel, not to the poor ;
but that which Constans, the Christian Emperor, had
sent, he had sent to the poor, not to Donatus.

So to Donatus God said :

' The wise men have not taught thee their wisdom ' l ;

for thou hast refused to learn from the words of
Solomon :

' Hide thy bread in the heart of the poor man, and he
shall pray for thee.' 2

Moreover, he would not learn from Daniel himself
the lesson which Daniel gave to Nebuchadnezzar,
as to how one who had offended God might make
satisfaction :

' And do thou, 0 King,' he said, ' hear my advice, and
may it find favour in thy sight. Redeem thy sins by alms-
deeds, and the unjust things that thou hast done by having
compassion upon the poor.' 3

Daniel advised a king, who was a sinner and
sacrilegious, to give alms. Donatus, who has deserved
to be blamed,4 hindered Constans, a Christian Emperor,
from doing deeds of mercy. Therefore is he blame
worthy, because wise men have not taught him their
wisdom,5 for he did not suffer the gifts sent by this
King to be distributed through his hands.

From all these things it is certain that Donatus

1 Dan. ii, 27. 2 Eccles. xxix, 15.

3 Dan. iv, 24. * i.e. in Ezekiel.

6 Cf. Dan. ii, 27.

BROUGHT ALMS 143

was the fountain from which flowed the causes of the
evils which ensued.1

So, you see, my brother Parmenian, to whose iv. An
charge any severity that may have occurred in the
work of bringing about unity ought to be attributed,
You say that an armed force was asked for by us
Catholics. If so, how is it that no one at that time
ever saw an armed soldier in the proconsular Province ?

Paul and Macarius came in order to console the
poor everywhere,2 and exhort everyone individually 3
to unity. But when they drew near to the city of
Bagaia, then it was that the second Donatus 4 (as
we have already written) who was the Bishop of that
city, in his desire to oppose an obstacle to unity, and
to place a check in the way of the above-mentioned
legates of the Emperor, sent his heralds through the
neighbourhood, and especially to all the fairs, and
called upon his fighting dervishes 5 to come in a body
to a place which he had fixed for them. So it was

1 unde constat Donatum malarum fontem caussarum. (Cf. for
caussa in this sense i, 27 ; iii. 3 : ' seminata est caussa ' ; iii, 14.)
a qui partperes ubique dispungerent.

3 singulos.

4 alter Donatus. This word alter used here of Donatus of
Bagaia makes it absolutely certain that Optatus knew nothing of
the distinction between Donatus of Black Huts and Donatus the
Great (cf. note 3, p. 45).

5 circumcelliones agonisticos. St. Augustine (con. Cresconium,
i, 28) describes the conduct of these men, and gives the etymology
of the word circumcelliones : ' Quis enim nescit hoc genus hominum
in horrendis facinoribus inquietum, ab utilibus operibus otiosum,
crudelissimum in mortibus alienis, vilissimum in suis, maxime in
agris territans et victus sui caussa cellas circumiens rusticanas, unde
et circmncellionum nomen accepit, universe mundo pene famosis-
simum Africani erroris opprobrium ? '

144 THE CAPTAINS OF THE SAINTS

that at that juncture those men were called together,
whose madness had been deemed by these same
Bishops, only a short time previously, to have been
set on fire by their wickedness.

For when men of this sort were, before the attain
ment of unity, wandering about in every place, and
in their insanity called Axido and Fasir ' Captains
of the Saints,' no man could rest secure in his posses
sions. Written acknowledgments of indebtedness had
lost their value. At that time no creditor was free
to press his claim, and all were terrified by the letters
of these fellows, who boasted that they were ' Captains
of the Saints.' If there was any delay in obeying
their commands, of a sudden a host of madmen flew
to the place. A reign of terror was established.
Creditors were hemmed in with perils, so that they
who had a right to be supplicated on account of
that which was due to them, were driven, through
fear of death, to be themselves the humble suppliants.
Very soon everyone lost what was owing to him —
even to very large amounts, and held himself to
have gained something in escaping from the violence
of these men.

Even journeys could not be made with perfect
safety, for masters were often thrown out of their
own chariots and forced to run, in servile fashion, in
front of their own slaves, seated in their lord's place.
By the judgement and command of these outlaws,
the condition of masters and slaves was completely
reversed.

So when the Bishops of your party were reproached
[with this state of affairs] , they are said to have written

THE SUPPRESSION OF THESE BANDITS 145

to Taurinus, who was at the time in possession of
civil authority,1 saying that as men of this class could
not be corrected by the Church,2 they requested that
they should be punished 3 by the above-mentioned
officer.

In answer to this letter Taurinus ordered an
armed force to go through the fairs, where these mad
vagrants were accustomed to wander about.

In the district round Octavum 4 a large number
were put to death, of whom many were beheaded.
Even to the present day we may count their bodies
by the whitened altars or tables.5 When the custom
was introduced of burying some in the basilicas,
the priest Clarus 6 in the district of Subula was required
by his Bishop to undo the burial.7 Through this
it came to be known that what was done had been

1 tune Comiti. 2 in Ecclesia corrigi non posse.

3 acciperent disciplinam.

4 A town in Numidia. Amongst the Bishops who were assembled
at the Carthaginian Council under St. Cyprian we read of Victor
ab Octavo.

5 per dealbatas aras aut mensas potuerunt numerari. That is
to say, whitened tombs made in the shape of an altar. As the
Donatists pretended to look upon these fanatics, who had been
justly put to death for murder and other crimes, as martyrs, they
raised altars over their graves. (It is well known that the first
Christians used to say Mass on altars erected over the bodies of
martyrs, e.g. in the Catacombs.) These altars were sometimes
called Tables, as in the Catholic Church of the present day. Thus
St. Augustine writes (Sermo de div. 113) : ' Denique, sicut nostis,
quicunque Carthaginem nostis, in eodem loco Mensa Dei constructa
est, et tamen mensa dicitur Cypriani : non quia ibi est umquam
Cyprianus epulatus, sed quia ibi est immolatus, et quia ipsa immo-
latione sua paravit hanc mensam : non in qua pascat sive pascatur ;
sed in qua sacrificium Deo, cut et ipse oblatus est, offeratur.'

6 A Donatist priest.

7 ut insepultam facevet sepulturam. This phrase shows that
St. Optatus was acquainted with Cicero (Phil, i, i).

146 WHY SOLDIERS

done through a command,1 when not even burial in
the House of God was permitted them.

Afterwards the numbers of these fanatics had
once more increased ; so Donatus of Bagaia found the
means of getting together from them a furious horde
with which to oppose Macarius.

Of the same class were those who, out of desire
for a false martyrdom, hired men to strike and kill
them to their own destruction.2 From amongst these
also they were drawn who cast themselves down head
long from the summits of lofty mountains, throwing
away their good-for-nothing lives.3

See the character of these men, from whom a
Bishop, the second Donatus, provided himself with
cohorts !

1 unde pYoditum est mandatum fuisse fieri quod factum est.
The command (mandatum) was, I think, that of the Donatist Bishops.
At first the circumcellions erected altars over their dead, but in
the open air and not in the churches. The later Donatists, when
they honoured these slain circumcellions as martyrs, forgot not only
that it was their own Bishops who (after the custom had been in
troduced of burying them in the churches) had ordered their bodies
to be exhumed, but also that these same Bishops had beggedTaurinus
to repress them, since ecclesiastical discipline had no effect. There
fore they, not the Catholics, were responsible for the massacres
(' quod factum est ') . Both Casaubon and Du Pin, however, under
stand mandatum to refer to a command not of Donatist, but of
Catholic, Bishops, and think that St. Optatus means to say that
prejudice was created against Catholics by the exhumation of the
dead circumcellions, and that on this account Catholics were
reproached for the alleged massacres. But they seem to forget that
Optatus has just stated that this was done by the order of a Donatist
Bishop. It is difficult to see how his command carried out by the
Donatist priest Clarus could create prejudice against Catholics.

2 sibi percussores in suam perniciem conducebant. (Cf . i, 16.)

3 qui ex altorum montium cacuminibus viles animas proicientes se
praecipites dabant. Cf. S. Augustine, Tract, ii.in loannem : ' Flammis
se dbnant, aquis se praefocant, praecipitio se collidunt, et pereunt.'

WERE DEMANDED 147

Alarmed, then, at this state of terror, those who
had brought the treasure to distribute amongst the
poor, conceived the plan, in such extreme necessity,
of asking for soldiers from the Prefect 1 Silvester, not
to do violence to anyone, but to put an end to the
violence which had been arranged by the above-
mentioned Bishop Donatus.

In this way did it come to pass that soldiers were
seen in arms. Now, consider to whom it is right, or
possible, to attribute that which followed afterwards.
The fanatics had got together an enormous horde, and
it is known that they had prepared an ample com
missariat.2 They had turned a basilica into a sort of
public granary, where they awaited those upon whom
they might expend their savagery ; and they would
have done whatever their madness might have urged,
had not the presence of an armed force stood in their
way.

For, when quartermasters 3 were, as is usual, sent
ahead of the soldiers, they were not received with due
respect 4 — contrary to the command of the Apostle,
who says

' Honour to whom honour is due, custom to whom
custom, tribute to whom tribute. Owe no man anything.' 5

Those who had been sent on horseback were mal
treated by the men whose names you have blown about

1 Comite.

2 habebant vocatorum infinitam turbam et annonam conpetentem
constat fuisse praeparatam.

3 metatores (seu mensores castrorum).

4 conpetentev (ap/j.o5lws) .

5 Rom. xiii, 7.

i48 THE MAKERS

with the fan of hatred.1 They were the authors of
their own wrongs, and by their example, through the
injuries which they inflicted upon others, brought upon
themselves whatever sufferings they may have endured.
The soldiers who had been thus molested went back
to their quarters,2 and everyone resented that which
two or three had endured. All were profoundly stirred
up, and not even their officers could hold back these
soldiers in their anger. In this way that came to
pass, which you have recorded thus, to create pre
judice against unity. These events, and others which
you have mentioned, have their own causes, and the
persons whose names I have given are responsible.
We have not even seen them, though we have heard
of them, just as you have done.

If to have heard of a thing makes us guilty, we hold
you to be partners of our guilt, since you have heard
of it likewise ; if to know of a thing by hearing gives
freedom from responsibility, then that which was done,
in consequence of your appeal,3 by others, ought not
to be ascribed to us.

You set down your complaints in due order, saying
that under Leontius and under Ursacius a very large
number 4 suffered wrongfully, that some were put to

1 contusi sunt ab Us, quorum nomina flabello invidiae ventilasti.
This phrase is repeated a little further on (iii, 7) : quorum nomina
cotidie, ut supra dixi, flabello invidiae ventilatis. Parmeman had
evidently made much use of the names of two Donatists (whom
Macarius had put to death), in order to stir up ill feeling against
Catholics (flabello invidiae}. St. Optatus here says that these men
had brought their death upon themselves by the injuries that they
had inflicted on the soldiers of Macarius.

2 numeros suos (literally the rank and file).

3 vobis provocantibus (to the Emperor) .
* quani pluvimos.

OF UNITY 149

death under Paulus and Macarius, that under their
successors unnamed individuals were proscribed for
a time. What has this to do with us, or with the
Catholic Church ? It is you who have brought about
everything of which you complain, for you refused
to accept gladly the peace which had been praised by
God, valuing the inheritance of schism more highly
than the precepts given us by the Saviour.

You have brought accusations against the makers
of unity. Blame unity itself, if you can ! For I
imagine that you do not deny that unity is the supreme
good ? 1

How does the character of the workmen affect us,
provided it be certain that they effected a work which
is good ? For the grape is trodden and pressed under
foot by sinful workmen, yet thence comes the wine
with which Sacrifice is offered to God.2 Oil, too, is
made by wretched people,3 some of whom are men
of evil lives and unclean tongues, yet it is used without
reproach 4 in condiments,5 in lamps, even in the holy
Chrism.6

1 nam aestimo vos non negare Unitatetn summum bonum esse.
Cf. ' Scisma summum malum esse et vos negare minime poteritis '

(i,2l).

2 inde Deo sacrificium offerhir.

3 a sordidis.

4 simpliciter erogatur. Du Pin writes ' id est eo innocue
utuntur.'

5 in sapore. Apparently this refers to the use of oil in
ordinary life — as we should say, in salads. If this is so, in
lumine, which follows, probably does not refer to lamps in
churches.

8 These principles may perhaps seem to contradict that which
St. Optatus urged, in his first Book, against the Donatist schism,
on account of the character of its originators. But even though it
must be granted that, under ordinary circumstances, a man's sin

150 THE PUNISHMENT OF SIN

y. Excuse You say that the makers of unity did evil things.1

forTht6 Perhaps this was according to the Will of God, who

efefciS is sometimes pleased to permit that which He might

bythc. have prevented. For some evil things are done in

champions . _ . -.

of unity. an evil way 2 ; some evil things are done in a good
way.3 The murderer4 does an evil thing in an evil
way, the judge does an evil thing in a good way when
he punishes the murderer.5

For this is the Voice of God :

' Thou shalt not kill ' 6 ;

and :

' If any man shall be found sleeping with a woman
who has a husband, you shall kill both,' 7

is also His Voice.

does not vitiate the character of his work, yet evil conduct and bad
lives clearly discredit the founders of a new religion or sect, who,
as is manifest, stand in an altogether exceptional position . Further,
in the first book Optatus had argued against the Donatists from
Donatist principles. They said that the Catholic Church had
apostatised by communicating with Betrayers. Optatus of course
denies that this was a fact, and proves not only that the Donatists
themselves had communicated with Betrayers, but also that the very
founders of their sect were Betrayers. It was an argumentum ad
hominem, but in the passage before us, as elsewhere, he argues from
the true principle that the character of a workman does no detriment
to his work.

i malos fuisse. z male. bene.

4 latro (cf. i, 19, note 9, p. 166).

& St. Optatus evidently had not heard of the distinction drawn
by moralists (which, as soon as one has heard it, clears up the whole
difficulty) between that which is intrinsically evil or evil in itself,
and can therefore never be done lawfully, and that which is in
itself ' indifferent,' and therefore derives its moral character from
circumstances and from the intention of the agent.

6 Exod. xx, 13 ; Dent, v, 17 ; Matt, v, 21.

" Deut. xxii, 22 ; Levit. xx, 10.

PHINEAS 151

One God, and two differing Voices. Thus when
Phineas, the priest's son, found an adulterer with an
adulteress, he stood with raised sword in his hand and
hesitated between the two divine Voices. One sounded
in his ears :

' Thou shalt not kill ' l ;
the other :

' You shall kill both.' 2

Were he to strike, he would act contrary to law.3
Were he not to strike, he would fail in his duty.4 He
chose the offence which was better 5 — to strike. And
perhaps there were not wanting those who would
have wished to brand him as a murderer for inflicting
this punishment. But God, that He might show
that some evil things are done in a good way, spoke
thus :

' Phineas has lessened 6 My wrath.'

Thus God was pleased with the act of homicide,
because thereby adultery was punished. What if God
has now been pleased with those things which you

1 non occides. 2 occidetis utrosque.

3 peccaret. * delinquent.

6 elegit melius peccatum. The word peccaium like peccaret (supra)
is not used here in the real sense of sin— a fault against conscience —
but of a fault against an apparently unrestricted Law of God, which
was seen to be abrogated by another commandment, and is there
fore called loosely peccatum. ' Melius peccatum ' is an oratorical
trick — an oxymoron. Cf. ' tacitus loquitur ' (v, 3 ) ; ' stulta
sapientia ' (vi, i) ; and (iii, 9) : ' ut sartor peccare potuisset.' For
this use of peccare cf. Cicero (Or. 21) : ' non modo in vita, sed
saepissime et in poematis et in oratione, peccatur ' ; and again :
' Peccare est tanquam transilire lineas' (Parad. 3, i).

6 mitigavit. Numbers xxv, n.

152 THE DONATIST

say that you have suffered — you who refused to have
unity, well pleasing to God, with the whole [Catholic]
world, and with the ' Shrines ' of the Apostles ? x

Against * am now comPelled, against my will, to make

the alleged mention of those men — whom I do not wish to men-

Donatist .

martyrs, tion — who are placed by you amongst the martyrs,
by whom you swear, as the one thing which those
of your communion hold sacred.2 I should indeed
prefer to pass them over in silence, but this is forbidden
me by considerations of truth. On account of the
names of these men, a mad hatred yelps thoughtlessly 3
against unity, and on account of them there are some
who reject unity with contumely, thinking that it
is something to be fled from or assailed, because
Marculus and Donatus are said to have been slain and
to be dead. As if no one at all ought ever to be killed
in punishment of offences against God. No one
ought to have been injured by the makers of unity,
but neither ought the divine precepts to be despised
by Bishops, to whom the command was given :

' Seek peace, and thou shalt obtain it ' 4 ;
and once more :

' How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity.' 5

1 qui unitatem cum toto orbe terrarum et cum Memoriis Apostolorum,
quae Deo placita est, habere noluistis. Optatus once more urges
union with (i) the rest of Catholic Christendom, and (2) with the
Apostolic See of Rome, where rest the bodies of the Holy Apostles
Peter and Paul (cf. ii, 4).

2 tanquam per unicam religionem vestrae commutiionis. Rehgio
is here the sacredness of an oath.

3 inconsiderate vabida latrat invidia.

4 Ps. xxxiii, 15. 5 Ps. cxxxii, i.

MARTYRS 153

And again :

' Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
the Sons of God.' 1

Whatever evils those persons who refused to hear
these words willingly, or loyally to carry them out,
may have endured, they have themselves — if to be
killed is an evil — brought their own evil upon them
selves.2

But you contend that Macarius is to be blamed, y_n.

J Macarius

because you think that his actions were not in accord- is
ance with the Will of God. Yet you will find men fronTthe
of old who were guilty of similar conduct. You
should bring your charge first against Moses himself,
the Lawgiver,3 who, coming down from Mount Sinai,
when the Tables of the Law on which it had been
written :

' Thou shalt not kill,'

had scarce been promulgated,4 ordered three thousand
men to be killed in one instant.5

Put Macarius aside for a little while. First appeal
to 6 Phineas, the priest's son, whom I mentioned just

1 Matt, v, 9.

2 mali sui ipsi sitnt caussa. Cf. S. August, (c. Hit. Petil. ii. 20 ) :
'Illi, de quibus maximam invidiam facere soletis, Marculus et Dona-
tus, ut moderatius dixerim, incertum est, utrum se praecipitaverint,
. . . quapropter de omnibus talibus invidiosis criminibus hoc vobis
. . . libera et secura voce respondet [Ecclesia Catholica] : Si non
probatis quod dicitis, ad neminem pertinet ; si autem probatis,
ad me non pertinet.' This is precisely the statement and argument
of St. Optatus in this Book.

3 Legislator em.

4 prope-necdum propositis tabulis legis.

5 Cf. Ex. xxxii, 13 ; Ex. xxi, 23 ; Dent, v, 17 ; Matt, v, 21.

6 in indicium provocate.

154 MOSES AND

now,1 to judge you — if indeed you know where to
find any judge excepting God. For that which you
blame has been praised by God in His own person,
because it was done through zeal for God.2 Meanwhile
suppress for the moment 3 charges prompted by hatred
against Macarius.

First give your mind 4 to the Prophet Elias, who
at the brook Cison,5 in obedience to the Will of God,
slew four hundred and fifty men. But perhaps you
will answer that these were slain deservedly — your
partisans 6 unjustly. Punishment never follows 7
without due cause. Moses inflicted punishment (as
we have said), and Elias, and Phineas — but you will
not have it that Macarius punished with justice.

If those who are said to have been killed had in
no way offended, it may be granted that Macarius was
guilty in that which was done by him alone — a business
of which we know nothing, but which was provoked
by you.

Why is prejudice created against us for things
that were done by somebody else ? Moreover, you
are the cause of that which is said to have occurred,

1 Cf. Num. xxv, 20.

2 nam quod accusatis, in persona ipsius a Deo laudatum est,
quod in zelo Dei factum est. Both Ziwsa and Du Pin print a comma
after ipsius, but I venture to think that it should be rather after
accusatis, and have translated accordingly.

3 subpvimite interim.

4 recurrite primo,

5 Cf. 3 Kings xviii, 40.

6 illos . . . istos.

7 nunquam sequitur vindicta. Killing is not to be called ' punish
ment ' unless when due cause has been given. ' Therefore/ says
St. Optatns to the Donatists, ' you object that in the case of Macarius
it should not be called " punishment," but murder.'

ELIAS 155

for it came about on your account, who were ' outside ' 1
(even as you are still outside), not on account of
us, who dwell ' within/ and have never departed
from the root.2

But, since we have spoken concerning the above
instances in order, let us now see why Moses com
manded three thousand to be slain, why Phineas two,
why Elias four hundred and fifty, why Macarius those
two whose names you daily (as I have already said)
fan with the fan of hatred.3

It is clear that those were punished who despised
a divine command ; for

' Thou shalt not make a graven image ' 4
is the Voice of God, and

' Thou shalt not commit adultery ' 5
is the Voice of the same God. The same God has said

' Thou shalt not offer sacrifice to idols ' 6
and

' Thou shalt not make a schism.' 7
And

' Seek peace and thou shalt obtain it ' 8

is the Commandment of the same God.

In the days of Moses the people of Israel worshipped
the head of a calf, which they had made in a sacrilegious

1 foris. Outside the Church.

" qui intus habitamus, et nunquam de radice recessimus.

;i flabetto invidiae ventilatis (cf. iii, 4).

4 Ex. xx, 4. 8 Dent, v, 8. 6 Cf. Ex. xx, 5.

7 Cf. I Cor. i, 10 ; xii, 25. 8 Ps. xxxiii, 15.

156 THE HIGH PRIEST'S SERVANT

fire l ; on this account three thousand men deserved
death, because they despised the Voice of God. Phineas
at one blow slew the adulterers. He deserved to be
praised by God, because he put to death those who
despised His Commands. And the four hundred and
fifty whom we read to have been slain by Elias, were
slain for this reason, that, contrary to the Command of
God — false prophets that they were — they had despised
the divine Precepts. So also those two whose death
you lay to the charge of Macarius are not far removed
from false prophets. (For that God said you would
be false prophets, we shall prove very soon.) And
in refusing to look at Peace, lest they should dwell
in unity with their brethren, they stood out obsti
nately against the Commands and against the Will
of God.

So you see that similar things were done by
Moses and Phineas and Elias and Macarius, because
the Commands of one God were vindicated by
them all.

But I see you now distinguishing between times,
and saying that the times before the Gospel were
different from those after the Gospel,2 and you can
bring forward the fact that it has been written that
Peter put back into his sheath the sword with which
he had cut off the ear of the high priest's servant,
whom, as though out of devotion,3 he might have
slain.

1 quod illis sacnlega flamma conflavit.

2 This is probably what all modern readers of St. Optatus will
have been thinking. Nor can we honestly say that St. Optatus
is very happy in the reply which he hazards.

3 quasi devotns.

A PROPHECY OF DANIEL 157

But Christ had come to suffer, not to be defended.
And if Peter had carried out his intention, it would
have appeared that in the Passion of Christ, a servant
was punished, not a people freed.

For that Macarius did not draw forth the sword vm.
which Peter sheathed, is proved by God, who, speaking neither
to the valley of Sion, says : £a*carius

' They that have been wounded in thee were not persecutor,
wounded by the sword/ *

... were put to

Show, if you can, that any one man in the time of death by
Macarius was struck with the sword. He oes on to

say : mart>TS-

' They that died in thee did not die in war.5 2

So you should consider carefully whether it be not
rash to call men, who experienced no war waged
against Christians, by the name of martyrs.

For nothing was at that time either done or heard,
such as it has been customary to do or say in a war
against Christians 3 — in a war that is called persecution,
like that which was carried on under two of the four
beasts which Daniel saw rising from the sea.4

Of these beasts, the first was like a lion. This was
the persecution under Decius and Valerian. The
second was like a bear. This was the second perse
cution under Diocletian and Maximian, when impious
magistrates waged war against the Christian Name —
amongst whom, sixty years and more ago, wrere Anulinus
in the Proconsular Province, and Florus in Numidia.

1 Is. xxii, 2. - Ibid.

3 in bello Chvistianomm. * Cf. Dan. vii, 3 sq.

158 THE CHRISTIAN

It is well known to all what their carefully planned
cruelty1 brought about. War, declared against the
Christians, was raging furiously. In the temples of
the demons the devil was triumphant. The altars
were smoking with unclean odours,2 and those who
could not 3 come to the sacrilegious sacrifices were
everywhere driven to offer incense.4 Every spot was
made into a temple of abomination.5 Old men, soon
to be on their deathbeds, were defiled 6 ; unwitting
infancy was polluted ; little children were carried by
their mothers to the shameful deed ; parents were
driven to the bloodless slaughter of their children 7 ;
some were driven to destroy the temples of the living
God, others to deny Christ, others to burn the books
of God,8 others to offer incense.

Not even you will be able to pretend that any
of these things was done by Macarius. Under the
persecutor Florus, Christians were forced to the temples
of idols ; under Macarius, the slothful 9 were ordered 10
to the [Christian] basilica. Under Florus, the command
was given to deny Christ and pray to idols. Under
Macarius, on the contrary, all were warned that one

1 artificiosa cntdehtas.

2 immundis futnabant ayae nidoribus.

3 Through illness or old age.

4 Hence those guilty of this sin were called Tunficati.

5 omnis locus templum erat ad scelus.

6 inquinabantur.

7 incvuenta parricidia faceve cogebantur. The murders by
parents of their children's souls were incruenta parricidia. For
parricidium cf. note 3, p. 40.

8 Leges divinas (the Holy Scriptures).

9 pigri — literally slothful. This, however, seems to have been
a word of general reproach, applied indifferently by Donatists to
Catholics, and by Catholics to Donatists (cf. vi, 8).

10 conpellebantur.

MARTYRS 159

God should be prayed to by all together in the
Church.1

Since then you see that no war was waged against
Christians ; and that God mentions that some have
died without war, saying ' And they who died in thee
did not die in war ' 2 ; and that those may well be
held to be but doubtful martyrs who were not urged
either to sacrilegious sacrifices, or to profane offering
of incense,3 or to denial of the Name of God ; and that
there is no path to martyrdom excepting through
confession — with what reason can you call those men
martyrs, who were not confessors ? Or, which among
them was driven 4 to deny Christ, and confessed His
Name ?

So, if there can be no martyrdom apart from con
fession of the Name of Christ — and if in this case no
one confessed Christ — and if that which you assert to
have been done, was done in vindication of the Com
mands of God — and if, whereas God had prophesied
that this should come to pass, His Commands were
vindicated, whilst you are unable to prove that we had
any share in it — if these things be so, consider whether
it be not merely idle, but also superstitious, to place
those who died without persecution 5 where they are,
who, having confessed Christ, were allowed to die on
behalf of the Name of God.

Or, if you will have it that they are martyrs — prove

1 ut Dens unus pariter in Ecclesia ab omnibus rogaretur.

2 Is. xxii, 2. The repetition of this text shows the importance
attached to it by Optatus. This cannot seem to us moderns any
thing but extraordinary.

3 inmunda incensa.

4 coactus est. 5 sine bello.

i6o THE BREAKERS OF UNITY

that they were lovers of Peace (in which are laid
the first foundations of martyrdom), or that unity,
beloved by God, was dear to them, or that they lived
in charity with their brethren — for that all Christians
are brothers we have proved in our first Book, and
shall also prove beyond doubt in our fourth).

Those men who (as you maintain) ought to be called
martyrs, refused to recognise their brethren, and had
no charity.

And let it not be said in their excuse that they
were unwilling to hold communion with Betrayers,
since it has been most clearly proved that they them
selves were the sons of Betrayers. Therefore you
have no way of excusing them, for it is abundantly
clear that they had not charity, without which martyr
dom can neither be [rightly] named nor have any
existence, without which the very greatest and most
commanding x virtue loses its effect, without which
the knowledge of all tongues is worthless, without
which even the fellowship of angels is of no avail —
as says the Apostle Paul :

' If I have the power of commanding mountains so as
to move them from place to place, and if I speak with the
tongues of all nations, even of angels, and if I deliver my
body to the flames, and have not charity in me, I am nothing.
But I shall be as tinkling brass 2 in the desert, so that the
effect of my word should die away there, where there is
none to hear.' 3

If one so great,4 if the blessed Paul, if the Vessel

1 imperiosa.

2 aer amentum (anything made of brass or copper, see Pliny xxxv,
15) tinniens.

3 Partly a quotation and partly a paraphrase of i Cor. xiii, 19.
* si tanta yes.

WITHOUT CHARITY 161

of Election, declares that (although possessing com
manding virtue1 and the company of angels) he is
nothing, unless he have charity, consider whether
they ought not to be called something very different
from martyrs, who, having deserted charity, may,
by reason of that desertion, perhaps have suffered
something.

The whole world rejoices concerning Catholic unity, ix. it
excepting a portion of Africa, in which a conflagra-
tion has been blown up from a spark. You com-

plain that some evil deeds or other 2 were committed unify in
by the makers of unity. No complaint of this kind *
is made by Italy, or by Gaul, or by Spain, or by
Pannonia, or by Galatia, or by Greece, or by any of
the Provinces of Asia.

No one was sent there to put things right,3 because
there was nothing there which needed setting right.4
No tailor5 (so to speak) was sent to them, because
amongst them there was no rent to repair.

Here, too, in Africa, of old— so long as the people
remained in unity— the garment had been whole,
but it was torn by the envious hand of an enemy.
It may be said, metaphorically, that pieces, coming
originally from one garment, were hanging loose,6
and that branches, coming from the same root, were
divided one from another.7

1 quamvis in imperiosa virtute.

2 nescio quae esse commissa.

3 emendator. « emendandum. & sartor.

6 pendebant quodam modo panni de una vestis origine.

7 St. Optatus here abruptly changes the metaphor. But he
at once leaves the thought of the tree and its branches, which he has
already developed (ii, 9), and returns to the garment and its rents.

162 A RENT

Why does part prefer itself before part ? l Why
does one piece of the garment raise itself above the
second, though it cannot prove itself to be better ?
What if the despised piece were to say :

' Why dost thou sound thine own praises only ? Have
we not grown up together ? Have we not been together
in the hands of those who made us up into one, and have
we not together been cleansed by Him who washed
us 2 ? An enemy has wished to cut us off 3 from
one another ; an adversary has wished to mar 4 our
beauty.'

In part of the garment we are still one, but we
hang on different sides.5 For that which has been
rent6 has been partly7 divided, not totally,8 since it
is surely certain that you and we have one ecclesi
astical discipline,9 and if men's minds are at war,
the Sacraments are not at war.10 Finally, we can
also say :

' Together we believe the same truths,11 and have been

1 ut quid se pars parti anteponit ? The Donatists had preferred
themselves before Catholics, saying in justification of their schism
that the Catholic Church had become corrupt.

2 lotorem. 3 excidere. 4 deformare.

6 in parte vestis adhuc unum sumus, sed in diversa pendemus.

6 scissum est. St. Optatus here tries to establish a distinction
between scindere, to tear away without dividing from the garment,
and abscindere or excidere (the word he had just used), to tear away,
or cut off, altogether — totally.

7 ex parte. 8 ex toto. 9 ecclesiastica conversatio.

10 si hominum litigant mentes, non litigant sacramenta. So
Catholics now remind the ' Orthodox ' Greeks that they use the
same Sacraments, and by this remembrance exhort them to
unity.

11 pares credimus.

IN A GARMENT 163

sealed with one Seal,1 nor have we been baptised otherwise
than you ; in like manner 2 we read the divine Testament ;
in like manner together we worship one God ; the Prayer
of the Lord 3 is one with you and with us. But since, as
we have just said, part had been rent asunder, the work
of mending 4 had become necessary, whilst parts [of the
garment] were hanging on either side.' 5

When he who arranges or works at a matter of
this sort 6 wishes to restore the garment to its former
appearance, he torments 7 the threads that are next
to his hand.8 The tailor, who wounds whilst he is
mending the rent, displeases you. He who brought
it about that the tailor has had the opportunity of
offending,9 should displease you even more. And
[remember] that the things which you allege to have
been committed by the makers of unity either should
be attributed to your fathers,10 of whose actions they

1 uno sigillo signati sumus, sc. in Confirmation. St. Optatus
goes on to speak of Baptism ; elsewhere (v, i) he writes of the seal
of Circumcision : ' ludaei hoc sigillo se insigniri gloriantur.'

2 pariter.

3 Oratio dominica. Some have seen here a reference to the holy
Sacrifice of the Altar — the Lord's Prayer per eminentiam.

4 sartura.

5 partibus hinc atque inde pendentibus. It is most true that the
One Catholic Church can never be divided . Yet, when large numbers
of men, still keeping the Faith, fall into schism, they may be said
to hang loosely to her in the manner described by Optatus in the
text : thus ever since the great Division between East and West,
the separated Eastern Bishops have been summoned to the
Oecumenical Councils of the Catholic Church, as well as the Uniats
who are in her full communion.

6 huius rei artifex aut op er anus.

7 conpungit.

8 vicina fila.

9 ut sartor peccare potuisset. (For peccare cf. note 5, p. 151.)

10 ad parentes vestros pertinent.

M 2

164 A WHITENED WALL

were the result, or came from the Will of God. But
we had nothing to do with them.

x. it^is How will it be if the severities (great though they

from rnay have been) were nevertheless inflicted — as we

ttfat Ihe have said — by the Will of God ? For we read in the

employed Pr°Pne1: Ezekiel of a whitened wall, against which

against QO(J threatened storm, rain, thunderbolts l and

the Dona-

tists was accusations :

by the will

of God. ' There shall be false prophets to build up a wall which

is ready to fall,2 crying " Peace, peace " — and where is
peace ? ' 3

Call to mind how of old you tore away one from
another the members of Mother Church.4 For you
were not able to seduce any one family at once. Either
the wife departed and the husband stayed behind, or
the parents were seduced and the children refused to
follow them, or the brother stood firm, when his sister
wandered off. At your instigation divisions were made
between man and wife — between parents and their
children — and you could not even leave in peace that
which natural law permits.5

1 lapides petrobolos.

2 ruinosam (cf . iii, 2) .

3 Cf. Ez. xiii, 10. There is, however, nothing to be found
here, in any extant version, of ' accusations/ unless they be found
in the words ' Ubi est litura quam linistis ? ' (Ez. xiii, 12). (Cf.
note 3, p. 168.)

4 Mains Ecclesiae.

5 persuasionibus vestris divisa sunt corpora et nomina pietatis,
et non potuistis praetermittere quod legitimum est. In this very obscure
passage, at first reading, it will probably seem that pietatis refers to
corpora as well as to nomina. But this can hardly be the case. I
think that it is clear that corpora refers to the relationship between
husband and wife, nomina pietatis to that between parents and
their children. The chief difficulty is as to the meaning of quod

DOMUS DEI UNA EST 165

No doubt, you have said :

' Peace be with you ' ;
but God on the other hand asks :

' Peace, and where is peace ? '
that is to say :

' Why do you give a salutation concerning that which
you have not ? Why do you name that which you have
destroyed ? Peace you love not, yet do you give a
salutation concerning peace/

' They,' He says, ' built a wall which is ready to fall.' *

The House of God is one.2

They who have gone out and wished to make a.

legitimum est. The context shows that St. Optatus is referring to
the division between brother and sister. He has to bring in an
idea to correspond to corpora and nomina pietatis. An unmarried
man and woman under ordinary circumstances ought not to live
alone in the same house, but natural law makes an exception for
brother and sister. ' You,' he says, ' do not spare that affectionate
union which natural law approves ' (quod legitimum est}. Alba-
spinaeus, however, refers quod legitimum est not to the institution of
the family, to which Optatus has just been alluding, but to that
which is coming, and understands it thus : ' And yet you have not
been able to omit the customary salutations.' But this involves a
full stop after pietatis, which is awkward ; besides it is exceedingly
doubtful whether quod legitimum est can bear this meaning. Still
it may be noted that in ii, 12, St. Optatus uses the phrase praeterire
illud legitimum for passing over that ' which is prescribed ' at Mass.
In his references to the sad divisions in families caused by Donatism,
St. Optatus shows a strange forgetfulness of the fact that such
divisions were foretold by its divine Founder as an inevitable
consequence of the spread of Christianity itself (Matt, x, 34 ;
Luke xii, 51). Moreover, they must necessarily have followed upon
that conversion of individual Donatists to the Catholic Church which
throughout his work Optatus so urgently advocates.

1 Cf. Ez. xiii, 10.

2 Domus Dei una est. (Cf. iii, 2 : Fecistis quasi alteros muros.)

166 THE CORNER STONE

party,1 have built a wall, not a house, for there is no
second God, to dwell in a second house.2

On this account false prophets are said to have
made a wall, and if a door be placed 3 in this wall,
anyone who enters through that door is [still] outside.4
Nor can a single wall have the Corner Stone — the
Stone which is Christ, who, receiving into Himself
two peoples — Gentiles and Jews — joins both walls
with the bond of peace.5

For a wall has as many disadvantages as a house
has advantages. The house protects all that is shut
within it, turns the edge 6 of the storm, throws off 7
the rain, keeps out murderer 8 and thief 9 and beast.
Thus also the Catholic Church embraces all the sons
of peace in her bosom and breast. On the other hand
the wall, which has been built in a ruinous state,10
supports no corner stone11 ; it has a purposeless door 12 ;
it keeps nothing inside it 13 ; but is soaked with the

1 partewi.

2 quia non est alter Deus, qui altevam domum inhdbitet.

3 conlocata. (Cf. ii, 2, Cathedram conlocaret.)

4 foris (sc. outside the One Church, which is the One House of
God, of which St. Optatus has just written : ' The House of God
is one ').

5 nodo pads. The metaphor seems to require cement rather
than knot. The two walls abut upon the Corner Stone, which makes
them into one wall (cf. Eph. ii, 20-21).

6 retundit. 7 diffundit. 8 latronem.

9 furem. The difference between latro and fur is that the former
word carries with it the idea of violence — in Optatus even of murder
(cf. i, 19 etc.).

10 aedificatus ruinosus.

11 nee lapidem angularem sustinet (for one wall has no corner).

12 ianuam sine caussa habet (cf . supra : ' quicunque intraverit
foris est ' — for when you enter the door you are still out of doors).

13 nee inclusa custodit (for it is a straight line, and one straight
line cannot enclose a space).

A QUASI-ECCLESIA 167

rain,1 is struck by the storm, and is able neither to
keep off the murderer, nor to stop the thief when he
approaches.

The wall belongs to the house, but is not the
house.

So your party is a quasi-church, but is not the
Catholic Church.2

'And/ He says, ' they whiten it.' That is to say
that you judge yourselves alone to be saints. You
complain that you have had some sufferings (though
we had nothing to do with them). Therefore it is
certain that these were sufferings which you endured
alone, for the time of peace is different from the time
of persecution.

If you consider that it was a persecution, tell us,
what had all the Provinces, of which the Catholic
Church is composed,3 to suffer together with you?

Since it was ' punishment/ not persecution, the
wall suffered alone, against which God threatened
storm, rain, thunderbolts and accusations, for thus
did He speak :

' Why have you built up a ruin ? Why have you made
it white ? Why have you painted 4 it ? This is against
My Will, saith the Lord.' 5

You are displeased with the days of a Leontius,
of an Ursacius, of a Macarius and the rest. Put
right 6 the Will of God, if you can, who has said :

1 pluvia udatur (for it has no roof).

2 pars vestra quasi ecclesia est, sed Catholica non est. (Cf. ' quasi
necessaria,' v, 4.)

3 est constituta. 4 linistis.

5 Cf. Ez. xiii, 12-14. 6 emendate.

168 EZEKIEL XIII, 13, 14

' I will rise against the wall in My wrath, and will send
upon it much storm and rain, floods and thunderbolts,1
and I will strike the wall that is ready to fall, and its joints
shall be loosened.' 2

And do not let any of your party object with the
question :

' If unity is a good thing, how is it that, after having
been so often brought about, it has not been able to
last ? '

For this reason, that the matter has been arranged
thus by God, who threatened storm, rain, stones
and accusations.3 Now these four things could not
happen at the same time. First there was a storm

1 lapides petrobolos.

2 Ez. xiii, 13, 14.

8 Cf. Ez. xiii, 13, 14. In the Vulgate we read ' Et erumpere
faciam (a) spiritum tempestatum in indignatione Mea et (b) imber
inundans in furore Meo erit, et (c) lapides grandes in ira in
consumptionem. Et destruam parietem, quern linistis, et cadet.'
From St. Jerome's commentary we find that the LXX had ' Et
disrumpam spiritum auferentem in furore Meo, et pluvia inundans
in ira Mea erit ; et lapides magnos (7repij9<$\ous) in furore inducam
in consummationem. Et suffodiam parietem, quern linistis, et
cadet, et ponam earn super terram et revelabuntur fundamenta eius,
et cadet et consummemini cum increpationibus ; et cognoscetis
quia ego Dominus.' St. Optatus' African version gives us
(a) tempestatem nimiam (b) et pluviam, diluvia (c) et lapides
petrobolos, et (d) accusationes. Where are these last accusationes ?
Probably they are the equivalent of the increpationes of St. Jerome.
The Greek of the LXX has KO.\ awreX^ffe^aree fj.fr' fXfyx«>v-
(/ACT' tXfyxuv — cum accusationibus.) The accusationes were to
be the last calamity that should beset the Donatists. Then they
were to fall. One wonders whether perhaps St. Optatus thought,
though he did not like to say so expressly, that his book contained
these destined ' accusations ' !

FALSE PROPHETS 169

under Ursacius.1 The wall 2 was then shaken, but did
not fall, so that rain might have an opportunity
to work.3 Rain then followed under Gregory.4 The
wall was made wet, but was not swamped,5 so that
the stones might have their opportunity. Under the
makers of unity the stones followed after the rain.
The wall was scattered about,6 but built itself up again
from its foundations. Three things have already been
accomplished. Accusations are still due to you, but
how they are to come and when, is known to Him, who
has been pleased to make these declarations concerning
you.

And that no one might doubt as to the meaning xi. it
of this, God has added these words : that The

Donatists

' The things which I speak concern not the clay 7 or the are .
side8 [of the wall] or the wall [itself], but false prophets
who deceive 9 My people.' 10

Consider whom this word ' deceive ' fits. All were
in communion with us. You rushed in upon us in
our absence,11 but, in order to possess those whom
you coveted, you had to beguile them — and all men
know what are your words of beguilement.

I Cf. iii, 4.

The Donatist schism.

That something might be left for the rain to do.
Cf. iii, 3.

udatus est, sed non maduit.
dispersus.
Into,
later e.
seducunt.
10 Cf. Ez. xiii, 2.

II nobis absentibus inruistis.

170 SOME DONATIST

You are wont to say :

' Look behind you.' 1
You are wont to say :

' Redeem your souls.' 1
You are wont to say to Christian men — even to clerics :

' Be ye Christians.' 1

But in saying ' Look behind you/ you are acting
against the gospel, in which it has been written :

' No man who holds the handle of the plough and looks
behind him shall enter the kingdom of heaven.' 2

And do you wish to know what was the fate of
the one who looked behind, and of the one who looked
before ? Remember those who escaped from Sodom
—Lot and his wife. She looked behind her and was
changed into a pillar of salt, whilst he who looked before
him escaped free.3 Why then do you say ' Look behind
you ' ? Moreover, when you say ' Redeem your souls,'
I would ask from whom did you buy them, that you
should sell them ? Who is that angel who deals in
souls as in the market-place ? 4 When you say
' Redeem your souls ' you are renouncing the Redeemer,
for Christ alone is the Redeemer of souls, which before
His coming were possessed by the Devil. These Christ
our Saviour redeemed in His Blood, as the Apostle says :

' You have been bought at a great price.' 5

1 Adtenditepostvos. Redimite ani mas vestras . Estate Christiani.
These were evidently catchwords in common use among the
Donatists.

8 nemo tenens manicam aratri post se adtendens (cf. Luke ix, 62).

3 Cf. Gen. xix, 26.

4 quis est ille nescio quis angclus, qui nundinas facit animarum ?

5 i Cor. vi, 20 ; vii, 28.

TRICKS AND CATCHWORDS 171

For it is certain that we have been all redeemed by
the Blood of Christ. Christ has not sold those whom
He redeemed. Souls bought by Christ cannot be sold,
to be redeemed again — as you would have it 1 — by
you.

Again, how can a soul have two Lords ? Or, is there,
perhaps, a second Redeemer ? What prophets have
announced that a second is to come ? What Gabriel
has spoken a second time to a second Mary ? What
Virgin has a second time given birth to a Child ?
Who has worked new or second deeds of power ? 2

If there is none, save One, who has redeemed the
souls of all believers, what means it that you say
' Redeem your souls ' ? What kind of thing is this
that you say to Christian men — even to clerics — ' Be
ye Christians ' ? And you dare to say to each one,
as though you expected a miracle 3 :

' Gai Sei, or Gaia Seia,4 art thou still a pagan man or
woman ? '

You call him, who has acknowledged 5 that he has
been converted to God, a pagan — him you call a pagan,
who has been washed by us or by you neither in our
name, nor in yours, but in the Name of Christ (for
some there are who have been baptised by you, and

1 si cut vultis.

2 quis virtutes novas aut alteras fecit ? (Gf . ' Suam virtutem
mittere ' ; ' a Filio Dei tantas celebrari virtutes,' v, 8.)

3 cum miraculo quodam.

* Common names, as if we should say ' Mary, or Nicholas '
(cf. vi, 8). So St. Augustine (De Bapt. ii, 7) tells us that the
Donatists used to say to Catholics ' Bonus homo esses, si non esses
Traditor, consule animae tuae, esto Christianus.'

5 professus est. Sc. by Baptism.

172

A DONATIST

have afterwards passed over to our Communion) —
him you call a pagan, who before the altar l has
prayed to God the Father through His Son. For who
ever has believed, has believed in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, yet him
you call a pagan after his Profession of Faith !

If — which God forbid — any Christian should fall
away,2 he may be called a sinner ; a pagan he cannot
be a second time.3

But all these things you wish to be held of no
account. And if he, whom you deceive, listens to you,4
then his consent alone, and the stretching forth of your
hand,5 and a few words spoken by you are enough in
your sight 6 to make a Christian out of a Christian,7 and
he seems to you to be a Christian who has done what
you want, rather than the man whom Faith has drawn
[to Baptism].

xii. A And if anyone should be rather slow in giving

thaTTad adhesion to your deceitful words, you have no lack

brought °* argljmemCs> with which you may with some ease 8

against

Macarius.

persuade men, even against their will, to do what you
like — telling them that it has been heard from the
lips of your old Bishops 9 that he who partook or

1 ante aram. Catechumens were not allowed to pray before
the altar and were not taught the Our Father until just before
Baptism.

2 deliquevit.

3 For a baptised man to become a pagan would be a miracle
(miraculwn quoddam), for 'quod factum est (sc. Baptisma) infectum
non potest fieri.'

4 si tibi consenserit. 5 In Penance. 6 iam tibi.

7 christianum faciunt de chnstiano. 8 quasi facile.

9 qui iamdudum in vestro collegia fuerant.

CALUMNY 173

received l of the sacrifice of unity as it drew near,2
partook of a sacrilegious sacrifice.3 We do not deny
that this was said by some, who, as is certain, afterwards
offered, with complete security, that sacrifice from
which shortly before they had held back the people.4
But one consideration made them speak in this fashion,
quite another consideration determined their action.5

For with regard to those who are reported to have
said these things, they were led thus to speak by a
false rumour which had filled their ears, and those of
all the people. For it was said that Paul and Macarius
would come at that time, to be present at the sacrifice,
and that, when the altars were set in festal array,6
they would bring out an image,7 which they would
first place upon the altar, and that then in this way
was the sacrifice to be offered.

As soon as their ears heard this, not only were their
minds disquieted, but everyone's tongue was stirred up
to use these words, so that all who had heard the story
cried out :

' He who partakes of this, partakes of a sacrilege.' 8

1 q-ui gustavet aut acciperet.

2 de sacrificio adventantis unitatis, = ' of the Sacrifice of [the
newly recovered] Unity,' i.e. who communicated at the general
Communion of union.

3 de sacro — sc. sacrilege. St. Optatus will explain immediately
that the Donatists put about the calumny that Paulus and Macarius
would cause the images of the Emperors to be exposed on the
altar during the offering of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist in their
camp. Hence they concluded that the Catholic Sacrifice was not
dissimilar to the sacrifice of the Pagans— a sacrilege (sacro).

4 quos constat postea tota secuvitate fecisse, tmde paulo ante populos
deterrebant.

5 alia ratio exegit lias voces, alia invitavit in factum.

6 cum altaria solemniter aptaventuY.

' sc. 01 the Emperor. 8 aui inde gustai de sacro gustat.

174 VINDICATION

And rightly would this have been said, if any corre
sponding truth had attached to such a tale.

But when the above-mentioned officers arrived,
nothing was seen of that, concerning which a little
before lying reports had been spread. Christian
eyes saw nothing to shock them, their sight afforded
no proof of those things which had upset their
hearing.

No stain was beheld, and the solemn rite was
observed after the accustomed manner.1 When they
saw that in the divine sacrifices 2 nothing was changed,
or added or taken away, the Peace which God has
praised was pleasing to men of good will.3

On this account none of those ought to be blamed
who from your body has made his way to Peace.4
They who had been disturbed by an unfortunate story
were strengthened by the simple and pure truth.
And let it not be said that he [who came from you to
Unity] of the bitter has made the sweet, or that of the
sweet he has made the bitter.

The bitterness, which was proclaimed by falsehood,
remained and continued in the breast of [mere] opinion ;
the truth which was seen with the eyes, having its
own sweetness in itself,5 was separated from the
boundaries of a false opinion. So neither was that
which is sweet made out of bitterness, nor was that

1 visa est puritas, et ritu solito solemnis consuetude perspecta est.

2 divinis sacrifices.

8 volentibus : — the reference is to ' Pax hominibus bonae
voluntatis.'

4 i.e. to the Unity of the Church (cf. i, i etc.). qui de collegia
vestro ad Pacem transitum fecit.

6 in set

OF MACARIUS 175

which is bitter made out of sweetness. For what was
seen was something else and quite different,1 and the
report had been very far from 2 the actual facts.

So, you perceive that you have brought forward
your abusive accusation unjustly, making up a story,
at your own pleasure, of whatever you liked, to tear
in pieces3 Macarius and Taurinus. You have lost
that, which you were quite clever enough to have
seen, whilst hatred has led astray your senses, and
closed the avenues of your understanding.

APPENDIX TO BOOK III.4

Now your malice has come to such a pitch that you say xm. in

that Macarius after these events ought not to have been andVhy3

admitted to Communion, but rather should have been Macarius

repelled by Catholic Bishops. In the first place, communion fitted

has onlv one name, but various modes. A Bishop is in toCom-

J i . rnunion.

communion with a Bishop in one way and a layman is in
communion with a Bishop in another way.

1 et aliud et extra est. Casaubon remarks here that he does
not think that St. Optatus meant to say anything more than
what no doubt he might have said much more simply : ' That
which is seen is very different from that which is heard.' But he
adds that, by the word extra, bitter gossip, which is outside of us,
and is only heard, may perhaps be here subtly contrasted with the
inherent sweetness which truth has in itself, and which we can, if
we will, see for ourselves.

2 longe fuerat. Had been a complete misrepresentation.

3 ut lacerares.

4 These two chapters are given both by Ziwsa and Du Pin as
the last two chapters (vi and vii) of Book VII, but are evidently
an appendix (written later) to Book III. (cf. p. 271).

176 MACARIUS

Secondly, it would be a grave matter if Macarius had
done that which he is said to have done, of his own will,
since those who act thus are punished by the public courts
and the Roman laws. For that man is a murderer who,
compelled by no necessity, by no one's commands, by no
superior authority, but, driven on by rage, of his own will,
does what the laws forbid. But it was in consequence of
your appeal l that Macarius did what he is said to have
done.

He was not a Bishop, and did not discharge the duties
of a Bishop. Neither did he lay hands on anyone, nor did
he offer sacrifice. Wherefore, as it is clear that he had
nothing to do with the functions of Bishops, no Bishop
was polluted by reason of one who did not offer
sacrifice with Bishops. Nothing remains for you but to
urge that he communicated with the people, and, indeed,
it is certain that he spoke amongst the people, but only
to press some point, not to preach — which belongs to
Bishops.2 For he spoke, if he was able to speak at all,
stripped of any authority. On the other hand, a Bishop's
discourse is approved by all, being adorned with sanctity,
that is to say, with a twofold salutation. For a Bishop
does not commence to say anything to the people without
first saluting the people in the name of God. As he begins,
so does he end. Every sermon in the church is begun by
the name of God and with the name of God is also ended.

1 vobis provocantibus, sc. to the Emperor (see iii, i).

2 non tandem tractandi, quod est Episcoporum. We learn from
St. Jerome and from St. Possidius in his life of St. Augustine that
in the churches of Africa priests were not permitted to preach in
the presence of a Bishop. But Casaubon has no difficulty in
showing that Baronius was mistaken in thinking that this custom
— which St. Augustine tells us (Ep. Ixxvii) was abolished in his
lifetime — was ever universal, or that priests were anywhere forbidden
to preach excepting when a Bishop was present. Still preaching
the Word of God has always been regarded in the Catholic Church
as pev se the duty of a Bishop, only per accidens that of a priest.

NOT A BISHOP 177

Which of you will dare to say that Macarius saluted the
people after the manner of Bishops ? Therefore, since he
neither saluted before he spoke, nor ventured to salute
after having spoken, nor laid his hand on anyone, nor
offered sacrifice to God with episcopal rite, how can you
say that the College of Bishops can have been polluted,
although you see that Macarius had nothing to do with
any episcopal duty ?

Your malice, having been in this point trodden under
foot by the footprints of truth, is seen again to raise its
head. For you say that he ought not even to have
communicated amongst laymen. Yet it is certain that he
was (as the Apostle Paul shows) a minister of the Will of
God, and what wonder, if even the pagan judges should
be considered ministers of the Will of God, according to the
Apostle who says :

' The judge does not bear the sword without reason,1
for he is a minister of the Will of God.'

So, too, Macarius was a judge in his own person. And
if he did not act judicially, he ought, by the laws of Rome,
to have been punished by the judges. Or, if you say that
even so Macarius should not have been admitted to com
munion, still we do not see that he ought to have been
repelled, who acted in the same kind of manner as did
Moses, whom God did not reject after twenty-three thousand
men had been killed, but called him to speak with Him a
second time.2 We do not see that he ought to have been
repelled, who did the same thing as did Phineas (whom
I have mentioned above), and then deserved to receive
Divine praise.3 It does not seem to us that he ought to
have been repelled, who did that which was done by Elias
the prophet, when he slew so many false prophets.4 (For
that they too were false teachers we have proved above.)

1 Rom. xiii, 4. 2 Cf, Ex. xxxii, 28.

3 Cf. Num. xxv, ii, * Cf, 3 Kings xviii, 40,

178 THE SENTENCE

xiv. That But were we to keep silence concerning these examples

Macarius an-d admit with you that Macarius was guilty — even so,

was guilty, he ought not to have been repelled by us in the absence

not to of an accuser. For it has been written that no man should

replied6611 ^e condemned before his case has been heard.

from Com- Tell us, then, who accused him and was not listened to ?

L0n- Tell us (if you can) that Macarius confessed his fault and

that we did not pronounce sentence. For after all, we are

in the Church judges of a kind,1 as you yourselves do not

deny. Indeed, you maintain that we ought to judge in

accordance with truth. We, then, cannot do that which

God has not done. In His Judgement He has thought

well to separate persons, and has not willed that one man

should be at the same time accuser and judge. For no

man can in one case at the same moment bear the weight

of two persons,2 so as to be in the same judgement both

accuser and judge. This is a thing which God has not done

by His omnipotence, but, in order to set before us the form

of passing judgement, has taught us that neither should a

guilty man be condemned without an accuser, nor should

he be the accuser, who would be the judge in the same

case.

Accordingly, at the very beginning of the world, when
men were commencing to be born, after his brother Abel
had been killed by Cain, we read that God called Cain
and asked him where was his brother.3 He doubled his
sin and said that he did not know, as though he would
make God ignorant, and when could there be anything
not known to God, under whose eyes and countenance are
all things which are done ? Nevertheless, God does not
judge without an accuser and asks concerning a thing which
surely He knew. And yet you wish us to repel one whom
we have not seen doing any evil, and who has had no one

1 sumus enim qualescumque indices in Ecclesia. Qualescumque
is written modestly, in comparison with secular judges.

2 duas portare personas.

3 Gen. iv, 9.

PASSED ON CAIN

179

to accuse him. I perceive here what your malice is about
to whisper : you will say that what has been done has
not escaped our knowledge. We acknowledge that we
have heard about it, but to condemn one whom no man has
ventured to accuse would be to sin. If you tell us that
his deed has not escaped us, will you tell God, who had
seen the brother's murder, why He asked about it ? It
would not have been right for us to do something which
God refused to do, when He would not pass sentence,
excepting on one who was guilty. You must find an
accuser. Otherwise the condemnation could not be just —
unless he who should pass sentence was himself to be the
accuser ! Wherefore God says :

' Behold thy brother's blood. It cries to me from the
earth.' *

Thus it is that, since by no means can you prove that
Macarius was accused before us by any man, you cannot
find fault with our judgement.

1 Gen. iv, 10.

BOOK THE FOURTH

AN ANSWER is MADE TO CERTAIN ARGUMENTS OF
PARMENIAN, DRAWN FROM VARIOUS PASSAGES IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT.

i. The WE have now, my brother Parrnenian, shown openly

ofrthiTnt and clearly that in charging us with asking for the

Book. keip of tke soldiers, you have calumniated us to no

purpose.1 Now learn this also, that what you have

said about the Sacraments and sacrifice of a sinner 2

refers to you rather than to us.

Since a man is not necessarily a sinner3 because
you have so chosen to term him, it would be equally
easy for us, copying your gratuitous assumption,4
to say that you are the sinners. But assumptions
of this kind on both sides should be sent packing.5
Let neither of us judge the other with man's judgement.
It belongs to God to know who is guilty ; His
it is to pass judgement. Let then all of us, who are

1 Cf. iii, 4.

2 de oleo et sacrificio peccatoris. For this phrase cf. i, 5, 6, 7 ;
iv, 7, 9. For oleum cf. note 3, p. n.

3 non ille debet esse peccator.

* vestvam praesumptionem. The Donatists boastfully claimed
that the validity of the Sacraments depended upon their personal
holiness. This was the ' presumption ' with which they started.

6 facessat ex utvaque parte praesumptio. Cf . ' facesse Tarquinios '
(Liv. i, 47).

MY BROTHER PARMENIAN 181

but men, keep silence. Let God alone point out the
sinner, whose sacrifice is unclean,1 and from whose
hands one who wishes to be anointed should fear to
receive unction.

How most clearly true this is, acknowledge, my
brother Parmenian !

If, that is, you are freely content to hear this n. That
ascription of brotherhood which I have so often used. i?onatists
And I would beg of you to recognise that, however

distasteful the word brother may be to you, still it of

, ., , Catholics.2

has of necessity to be employed by us, lest perchance
(considering the proof that it ought to be used) we
should, by refraining from it, be blameworthy. For, if
you are not willing to be my brother, I should begin
to be unbrotherly,3 were I to keep silence concerning
this name. For you are our brethren, and we are
yours, as the Prophet says :

' Has not one God made you, and one Father begotten
you ? ' 4

Nor can you avoid being our brethren, since to all
has it been said :

' You are all gods and sons of the Most High.' 5

And both you and we have received the one
command in the words :

1 emus sacrificium est canina victima. Canina — Like that of a
dog. Cf. infra iv, 6 : quasi qui victimet canem. The reference is
to Deut. xxiii, 18 : ' Non offeres pretium canis in domo Domini
Dei tui ' ; cf . also Is. Ixvi, 3 : ' Facinorosus qui sacrificat Mihi
vitulum, quasi qui canem occidat ' (the reading of St. Aug. c. ep.
Par men. ii, 5).

2 The whole of this chapter is a digression (cf. i, 3).

3 impius. 4 Malach. ii, 10. 5 Ps. Ixxxi, 6.

182 PATER NOSTER

' Call no man your father on earth, because One is your
Father in the Heavens.' x

Our Saviour Christ alone is the Son of God by
Birth,2 but both you and we have been made sons
of God in the same manner, as it has been written in
the Gospel :

' The Son of God has come. As many as received Him,
to them has He given the power to become sons of God,
to those who believe in His Name.' 3

We have both been made and are called His sons ;
you have been made His sons, but are not so called,4
because you are not willing to be in peace, or to listen
to the Son of God Himself, when He says :

' Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
sons of God.' 5

Christ by His coming recalled God and man to Peace,6

and

' taking away the wall of partition, made both One.' 7

But you will not have peace with us, that is, with
your brothers. For you cannot escape being our
brothers — you whom together with us one Mother
Church has borne from the same bowels of her
Mysteries,8 and whom God the Father has received
in the same manner as sons of adoption.

Wherefore Christ, foreseeing this time — how it

1 Matt, xxiii, 9. 2 solus natus est Filius Dei.

3 John i, ii.

4 They had been made the sons of God by Baptism, but had,
by reason of their schism, lost their right to the title.

5 Matt, v, 9.

6 Deum et hominem revocavit in Pacem. A very strong phrase.

7 Eph. ii, 13.

8 quos iisdem Sacramentorum viscevibus (cf. ii, 10).

QUI ES IN CAELIS 183

would come to pass that you should to-day be at
variance with us, gave such commands with regard to
prayer, that, at least in prayer,1 unity might remain,
and that supplications might join those who should
be torn asunder by faction. We pray for you, for
we wish to do so, and you pray for us, even though
you do not wish it. Otherwise let any one of you say :

' My Father, who art in Heaven/ and ' Give me my
daily bread,' and ' Forgive me my trespasses, as / forgive
him who trespasses against me.'

Accordingly, if things which have been prescribed
may not be changed, you see that we have not been
absolutely2 divided from one another, whilst we
willingly pray for you, and you (though unwillingly)
pray for us. You perceive, my brother Parmenian,
that the bonds of holy brotherhood between you and
us do not admit of being absolutely2 broken.

We have now to search for the sinner, at whose m. That

the Dona-
hands we should fear to receive unction, or whose tists are

sacrifice ought to be disowned.3

Let human mistrust give way, and the arguments
of both sides keep silence. God alone shall point out
who is a sinner. We read in the forty-eighth Psalm
in the second division 4 that the Holy Ghost has said :

' But to the sinner God said.'

Here we have to give the. whole attention of our mind,
and see who is the sinner.

1 The Lord's Prayer. 2 in totum.

3 cu-ius potuit vel oleum timeri, vel sacrificium repudiari.

4 sub secundo diapsalmate. Ps. xlix, 16. For Diapsalma cf.
S. August. Enavv. in Ps. iv, 4 ; Quaest. ex utroque mixlim (Migne,
P.L. p. 2334) I S. Hieron. Ep. xxviii, De Voce Diapsalma.

184 DE OLEO ET SACRIFICIO

For, if after we have read :
' But to the sinner God said/

some such words as these were to follow :

' Thou hast snatched up arms, thou hast marched out
of the camp,1 thou hast stood against the foe in battle
array/

then the soldier would have reason to fear, because he
might seem to be the sinner.
Or, if He said :

' Thou hast got together merchandise, thou hast gone
on journeys, thou hast held fairs, thou hast bought and
sold for the sake of profit/

then the man of business would have to fear, because
he might seem to be the sinner.
Or, if He said :

' Thou hast built a ship, thou hast fitted it out with
rigging and sails, thou hast seized 2 the winds favourable
for a voyage/

then the sailor would have to fear, because he might
seem to be the sinner.

Or, if after we have read :

' But to the sinner God said/
these words were to follow :

' Dissension and schism have been displeasing to thee,

1 processisti de castris. This is the reading of G. It is probably
a conjecture but seems to give the right sense. RBv read proiecisti
castris, which it is not possible to translate. Ziwsa conjectures
proiecisti te castris (thou hast flung itself upon fortresses), but this
is hardly Latin. Besides Optatus is not likely to have represented
an army as first attacking, and afterwards as standing in array against
the enemy in the field. 2 captasti.

PECCATORIS 185

thou hast agreed with thy brother and with the One Church,
which is in all the world, thou hast communicated with the
Seven Churches and with the Shrines of the Apostles.1
Thou hast embraced Unity ' —

if these things were to be read immediately afterwards,
then we should have to fear that we were the sinners.
But when God says :

' Why dost thou declare My commandments and take
My covenant in thy mouth ? For discipline thou hast
despised, and thou hast cast My words behind thee. Sitting
thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst lay a
scandal against thy mother's son. Thou didst see a thief
and didst run with him, and with adulterers thou hast
been a partaker ' 2 ;

then all these things have been said to you. Clear
yourselves from all of them, if you can !

So discipline has been held in contempt by you. iv. That
To what end then dost thou, who dost not obey the fistsDarea"
covenant, recite the covenant, in which has been set ofSSsd-S
forth the discipline which you 3 will not observe ? Pline-
For you cannot say that you observe something,
against which you bear arms !

God says :

' Seek peace, and thou shalt obtain it.' 4

Thou hast rejected peace. Is not this to despise
discipline ?

1 Cf. ii, 14.

2 Ps. xlix, 16, 17, 18, 20.

3 St. Optatus here passes abruptly from the singular to the
plural number, from Parmenian individually to the Donatists
collectively.

4 Ps. xxxiii, 15.

186 THE DONATISTS

In the Gospel we read :

' On earth peace to men of good will.' x

Thou wilt have neither peace nor good will. Is not
this to despise discipline ?

Moreover, we read in the hundred and thirty-second
Psalm :

' Behold how good and pleasant it is to dwell together
in unity.' 2

Thou3 wilt not dwell in unity with thy brethren.
Is not this to despise discipline ?

Christ says in the Gospel :

' He who has once been cleansed, has no need to be
cleansed anew.' 4

Thou by rebaptising dost cleanse anew. Is not this
to despise discipline ?
God says :

' Touch not Mine anointed, and lay not thy hand upon
My Prophets.' 5

You 6 have stripped so many priests of God of their
dignities. Is not this to despise discipline ?

Christ says :

' From this I know that you are My disciples, if you
love one another.' 7

You hold in hatred us, who are surely your brethren ;

1 Luke ii, 14. 2 Ps. cxxxii, i.

3 Here St. Optatus returns to the singular.
* John xiii, 10. 6 Ps. civ, 15.

6 We have the plural once more.

7 John xiii, 34.

DESPISED DISCIPLINE 187

nor have you been willing to imitate the Apostles, by
whom Peter was beloved, though he denied his Lord.1
Is not this to despise discipline ?

Thou 2 declarest the commandments 3 of God*
and takest His covenant in thy mouth. How dost
thou exhort : ' Seek peace/ though thou dost not
possess peace ? Thou recitest the covenant,4 and dost
not obey the covenant, in which has been set forth
discipline.

You have been chosen to sit and teach the people,5 v. That
and you slander us who are your brethren. As I have tists are

said above, one Mother Church has given us birth,
one God the Father has received us, and yet you ' lay
scandals against ' 6 us by forbidding each of your scandals.
followers to salute us, or receive from us the customary
signs of courtesy.7

1 Cf. vii, 3. 2 We have the singular again.

3 iustificationes.

4 Ziwsa has added at the beginning of this last sentence a second
quomodo and places a note of interrogation at the end (Quomodo
testamentum recitas ?} . This addition (for which no reason is given)
seems unnecessary. The recitas testamentum corresponds well
with the exponis iustificationes Dei etc. of the beginning of the
paragraph.

5 electi estis, qui sedentes populum doceatis. To sit, i.e. when
teaching the people. We learn from St. Augustine (Horn, xxvi ;
Tract, xix and cxii in S. loan. ; in Expos. Ps. cxlvii etc.) that in the
Churches of Africa the Bishops only were allowed to sit (though an
exception was made in favour of those who were ill or tired, at least
when the reading was long). He tells us, however, that a far better
custom prevailed in some European Churches : ' longe consultius
in quibusdam ecclesiis transmarinis, non solum antistites sedentes
loquuntur ad populum, sed ipsi etiam populo sedilia subiacent '
(de Catech. rudibus, c. xiii), 6 Ps. xlix, 20.

7 ne nos salutent, ne a nobis dignationem accipiant. In the early
days of Christianity, Christians were accustomed to salute one

i88 PSALM XLIX, 20

Consider your haughty words, consider your
discourses,1 consider the commands that you have
given, turn over your actions in your minds, and you
will then find out why the man who formerly asked
you for the Sacraments, has feared to receive them
at your hands.2

There is not one of you who does not mingle abuse
of us with his discourses ; x not one of you who does not
begin in one manner and continue in another.3 You
begin the sacred readings on the Lord's Day,4 and
unfold your comments in such a way as to do us wrong ;
you bring forth the Gospel, and heap abuse upon your
brother in his absence ; you pour hatred into the minds
of those who listen to you, and by your teaching
persuade men to live at enmity with one another.
By all your discourses you ' lay scandals against ' us.
Therefore, to each one of you has it been said :

' Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother, and didst
lay a scandal against thy mother's son.' 5

When God reproves the sinner and chides him that
sits, it is clear that His words are addressed specially

another with the kiss of peace, not only at a stated time in the
church during divine service, but also when meeting in the street.
Casaubon points out that in Low Latin dignatio was used for
jacilitas or humanitas and quotes from Sidonius Apollinaris the
phrase ' dignitate clarus, dignatione communis.' (For legitimum,
cf. note 5, p. 164.)

1 tractatus — i.e. ad populum = sermons. Ziwsa, however, gives
libellus as its equivalent.

2 et invenietis oleum vestrum timuisse, qui vogabat. Du Pin
rejects this sentence, as not being consistent with the context ;
but it is found in all the MSS.

3 qui non aut aliud initiet aut aliud explicet.

4 lectiones dominicas. 5 Ps. xlix, 20.

HERETICS 189

to you, not to the people who have no permission to
sit in the church.1 You see therefore that without
a doubt to you should be referred the Divine Words :

' Sitting thou didst lay a scandal against thy mother's
son.'

I have so many times proved that we have one
mother, nor can you deny this — you who ' lay scandals
against ' us — though some of your party allege texts
which they have not understood, in order to take away
from us even what is usually shared by all men —
the courtesy of salutation. For some of you refuse
us the embraces that are customary in everyday life,2
and many are taught not to say ' God speed you ' 3
to any one of us, and think that this is commanded by
what they have read without understanding it, through
not knowing of whom it was that an Apostle 4 has
said :

' With such as these not even to take food,' nor ' say
" God speed you" ' to him, 'for their speech creepeth on
like a spreading sore.' 5

This was said of heretics, whose teaching at that
time began to be full of errors, for through the subtle
seductiveness of their speech, they introduced diseases,

1 non ad populum qui in Ecclesia non habent sedendi licentiawi.
Cf . supra : ' Elect! estis, qui sedentes populum doceatis,' where see
note.

2 in pevfunctoYia salutatione oscula denegatis solita.

3 Ave. * Apostolus.

6 We have here three passages joined together in one sentence —
i Cor. v, ii ; 2 John 10 ; 2 Tim. ii, 17. Parmenian (or possibly
some other Donatist) had quoted all the three texts. St. Optatus
supposes the context known, and cites a portion of each, without
continuing them.

igo VERBA

creeping along in the darkness, to corrupt the soundness
of the Faith.1 Such a one was Marcion, who from a
Bishop became an Apostate, and brought in two Gods
and two Christs ; such was Ebion,2 who argued that
not the Son but the Father had suffered ; such
Valentinus, who strove to take away from Christ His
Flesh.

This is that speech which had a cancer 3 to torment
the members of the Faith. This has been said also
of the heretic Scorpian,4 who maintained that there
ought to be no martyrdom.

1 quorum caeperat illis temporibus vitiosa esse doctrina, qui
subtili seductions verborwn morbis obscure serpentibus corrumperent
ftdei sanitatem.

2 The MSS. have Ebion. Du Pin substituted Praxeas who
was accused by Tertullian. ' Patrem cruci fixit.' St. Optatus
probably wrote Ebion by a slip of the pen.

3 qui habuit cancer. St. Augustine (De Bapt. con. Donat.
iv, 12) writes that he would have understood the words in 2 Tim.
ii, 17 (quoted above by St. Optatus), ' serpit eorum sermo velut
cancer,' of wicked men within the Church, but that the authority of
St. Cyprian will not admit of this interpretation. He proceeds,
however, to argue against St. Cyprian, who had written (Ep. ad
lubaianum) : ' Nam cum dicant [Apostoli] sermonem eorum
[haereticorum] ut cancer serpere, quomodo is sermo dare remissam
peccatorum qui ut cancer serpit ad aures audientium ? ' To this
Augustine makes answer : ' Nee foris, sicut nee intus, quisquam qui
ex parte diaboli est, potest vel in se vel in quoquam maculare
Sacramentum quod Christi est . . . cum Baptisma verbis evan-
gelicis datur ... si quis per hominem perversum id accipiens
. . . remissionem accipit peccatorum non per verba sicut cancer
serpentia, sed per Evangelica Sacramenta de caelesti fonte
manantia.'

* St. Optatus seems to have been led astray here by the fact
that Tertullian gave the inscription of Scorpiace to the book which
he wrote against the heretics, who had attacked the martyrs. Hence
apparently he thought that there had been a heretic called Scorpian.
But at the commencement of this book Tertullian attacks no
individual, but terms Gnostics, Valentinians and other heretics in
general Scorpio s.

SICUT CANCER SERPENTIA 191

But let them keep their poisons for themselves,
and let no discourse x with them be allowed, lest by
listening to them simple minds be troubled, however
slightly.

Wherefore these are they whose speech has to be
avoided, lest it creep in, like a spreading sore.

This was said too of Arius, who endeavoured to
teach that the Son of God was made out of non-
existing substances,2 and not born of God — whose
teaching, had it not been driven away by three hundred
and eighteen Bishops in the Nicene Council, would,
like a cancer, have entered the breasts of many.

This was said also of Photinus. a heretic of the
present time, who has dared to say that the Son of
God was merely a man, not God.

It may have been said of you as well, since your
word has introduced no small cancer into the ears and
minds of some. This is your word, which you address
to the sons of Peace, when you say :

' You have perished. Look behind you. Your soul
will be lost. How long do you hang back ? 3 '

In this way have you made Penitents of the Faith
ful ; thus have you destroyed the honours due to
Priests.4 Behold ! It is your word also, which to-day
creeps on as a spreading sore, so that you forbid us the
greetings and ordinary intercourse of life.

1 velatio. Relatio = recounting, i.e. narrative or teaching (from
referrc, to relate). Ziwsa says = sermo.

2 ex nullis substantiis ( = ^| OVK ovrwv ) factum esse.

8 quamdiu vos tenetis ? = quamdiu apud Catholicos manetis ?
Ziwsa says that se tenere here = zogern, sich aufrecht erhalten.
* Cf. i, 2 ; ii, 24 supra etc.

IQ2 PSALM XLIX, 18

But how could our teaching have produced any
such result ? We guard the sons of Peace with pure 1
teaching ; we lead no strangers astray ; we ruin no
man. It is therefore clear that you daily ' lay scandals
against ' us, and it would be a long matter to go through
all the ways in which you slander us, and all the kinds
of scandal which you ' lay against ' us.

the Dona-

thieves6 ' Thou didst see a thief and didst run with him/ 2

and on

what concerning what kind of thievery think you that this
has been said ? Was it perhaps on account of some
stolen article of clothing, or some pocket that had
been picked,3 or about goods the stealing of which
brings loss and gain to men ?

Yes, without doubt such thefts as these are for
bidden ; but in this passage God rebukes those which
are made from Himself. Do you ask what thefts are
made from God ? They are to be found amongst you !
God's possession is the mass of the Faithful,4 from which
that thief the Devil tries every day to steal something,
striving to corrupt in some way or other the morals
of a Christian man or woman, and thus to snatch
away, if not the whole man— at any rate something
or other from the man.

1 simplici. Simplex = unadulterated, unmixed by any new
teaching or heresy.

2 Ps. xlix, 1 8.

3 aut de involato gremio. Gremium — the fold of the garment —
pocket. Involato not from in-volare — to swoop upon, but from the
unusual verb in-vola-re from vola, the palm of the hand, = to place
in the palm of the hand — to steal (cf. French voler).

4 possessio Dei est turba Fideliwn.

EXORCISM 193

Since you saw this Thief bringing force to bear
against us, you have helped him by your deeds. For
ncne are unaware, that everyone who is born (even
though he may be born of Christian parents) cannot
be without the unclean spirit, who must of necessity
be driven out and separated from a man before the
saving laver. This is effected by the exorcism,1
through which the unclean spirit is cast forth and
driven, in flight, to desert places.

The house in the heart of the Believer is made
empty, the house is made clean. God enters and
dwells therein, even as says the Apostle :

' You are the Temple of God, and God dwells in you.' 2

Whereas then each [baptised] man is full of God,
and that Thief the Devil is endeavouring to steal
something away from him, you exorcise that faithful
man by rebaptising him, and say to God, who dwells
within him :

' Go forth, O cursed one,'

that there may be fulfilled what was spoken by
Ezekiel the Prophet :

' And they spoke evil things to Me amongst My people
for the sake of a handful of barley and a morsel of bread,
that they might kill souls which ought not to die, whilst
they announce to My people empty deceits.' 3

1 nam neminem fugit quod omnis homo qui nascitur, quamvis de
parentibus Chnstianis nascatur, sine spintu immundo esse non possit,
quern necesse sit ante salutare lavacrum db homine excludi et separari.
Hoc exorcismus operatur etc. We see the importance which
Optatus attached to the very ancient pre-baptismal exorcism.

2 i Cor. iii, 16.

3 Ez. xiii, 19 : maledicebant . . . vanas seductiones (Vulgate
' violabant . . . mentientes populo Meo credent! mendaciis ').

194 MATTHEW XII, 43-45

So God hears wrongful insults, which are not
His due, and departs from such a dwelling as this ;
and the man who, when he entered the church, was
full of God, goes out an empty vessel.

The Devil, who wished, like a thief, to steal some
thing, sees that the whole, from which he was striving
to snatch some little thing, has become his by your
assistance. Wherefore, of you God said :

' Thou didst see a thief and didst run together with
him.' 1

Again it has been written in the Gospel :

' But when God shall have left a man, he remains an
empty vessel, but the unclean spirit wandering through
desert places, says, in his hunger 2 : " My house is empty," 3
that is to say, He who had shut me out has been Himself
shut out. " I will go back and dwell therein." And he
brings with him seven others more wicked, and he shall
dwell there, and that man's last state shall be worse than
his first.'

That is :

' Thou didst see a thief and didst run together with
him, and with adulterers didst cast thy lot.'

He terms heretics adulterers, and their churches
adulterous,4 which Christ contemns and disowns 5 in
the Canticle of Canticles, as though He should say :

' Why do you make churches that " are not wanted6 " ? '

1 Ps. xlix, 18. 2 ieiunus.

3 We have here a paraphrase of Matt, xii, 43-45.

4 Cf. note 4, p. 18. 5 aspernatur et repudtat.
8 non necessarias. Cf. note 3, p. 121.

ISAIAH XLVI, 3

' One is My beloved, one is My Spouse, one is My dove ' 1
that is, the Catholic Church, in which you too might
be.a And yet by rebaptising you have chosen to cast
your lot amongst adulterers.

It has been most clearly proved by divine witness
that you are sinners. It has also been shown that
thine auxiliaries have warred against thee,3 for thou
hast brought up to thy relief4 the saying of the
Prophet :

' The sacrifice of the sinner, is as of one who would offer
in sacrifice a dog/ 5

Now, if you have any shame, recognise with grief
that you are the sinners.

Also learn this, whose Word it is : vn. in

what sense
' Let not the oil of the sinner anoint My Head.' 6 JSaVUt

T-, , . not the

.tor wnose voice is this thou hast not understood ? °iloftha

It is surely the voice of Christ, who had not yet been aS My

anointed, when He prayed that the oil of the sinner Head'
should not soil His Head. Thou hast said, without

1 Cant, vi, 8.

2 Catholica, in qua . . . esse. Cf. iii, 3 : ' in Christ! Catholica
habitabant,' etc.

3 tua auxilia contra te militasse. We have this abrupt transition
to the singular in order to emphasise the fact that Parmenian had
quoted this text, which is now turned against him.

4 in auxilium addideras.

5 Is. Ixvi, 3 : quasi qui victimet canem. We read in the Vulgate
' quasi qui excerebret canem.' The word victimo is used in the
sense of sacrifice by Apuleius. Excerebrare (literally to beat out the
brains] is found only in the Vulgate. It is translated in the Douay
Version : ' He that killeth in sacrifice.' (Cf. note i p 181 )

6 Ps. cxl, 6. -

ig6 PSALM CXL, 6

understanding, that David the Prophet feared the oil
of the sinner.

The Psalmist had already been anointed by
Samuel. There was then no reason why he should
be anointed a second time. Consequently it is the
voice of Christ, which says :

' Let not the oil of the sinner anoint My Head.'

It is a prayer, not a command ; the expression
of a desire, not a precept. For, were it a command,
He would have said :

' The oil of the sinner shall not anoint My Head.'

It is therefore the Voice of the Son of God, even
then fearing to meet the oil of the sinner, that is of
any man whomsoever, for no man is without sin,
but God alone. Accordingly His Son feared the
oil of man, for it would have been shameful that God
should be anointed by man. Accordingly He prays
the Father that He should not be anointed by man,
but by God the Father Himself. It is then the Son
who asks ; let us see whether the Father has granted
the request.

This the Holy Spirit points out and makes clear
in the forty-fourth Psalm, wherein He says to the
Son Himself :

' The Lord thy God shall anoint Thee with the oil of
gladness differently l from Thy fellows.'

His fellows had been the priests and kings of the
Jews, each of whom was known to have been anointed

1 alitev a consortibus tuis. (The Vulgate has ' pvae consortibus
tuis.') Ps. xliv, 8.

PSALM XLIV, 8 197

by men. But, since it was right that the Son should
be anointed by the Father — God by God — as the
Son asked and the Spirit announced that it had been
promised — this the Father fulfilled in the Jordan.
For when the Son of God, our Saviour, came there,
He was pointed out to John with these words J :

' Behold the Lamb of God ; He it is who taketh away
the sins of the world.' 2

He went down into the water, not that there was
anything in God that could be cleansed, but the water
had to come before the oil that was to come after,
thus to commence and ordain and fulfil the Mysteries
of Baptism.3

For when the waters went over Him, and He was
held in the hands of John, the Mystery followed in due
order, and the Father fulfilled that for which the Son
had prayed, and the Holy Ghost had announced was to
come. The Heaven was opened, as the Father anointed.
Forthwith the spiritual oil descended in the likeness
of a Dove, and sat upon His Head and flowed over
Him. On this account He was first called Christ,
when He was anointed by God the Father. And lest
it might seem that the laying on of hands was lacking
to Him, the Voice of God was heard, saying from the
cloud :

' This is My well-beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased.4 Hear ye Him.' 5

1 Ad loannem ostensus est his verbis. 2 John i, 29.

3 In Confirmation; Cf. Tixeront (op. cit. ii, 314).

4 de quo bene sensi.

6 Matt, iii, 17 ; Mark i, n ; Luke ix, 35 ; 2 Pet. i, 17.

WISDOM III, 16

Here, therefore, we find the meaning of that which
was written :

' Let not the oil of the sinner anoint My Head.'

Learn, then, though late, my brother Parmenian, the
nature of the truth, for now is the time for learning
how to find it.1

And with regard to that which you have quoted
heretics from the Prophet Solomon 2 :

are

adulterers ' ^e children of adulterers shall not come to per
fection, and bastard slips cannot take deep roots/

this may well be understood to have been said in a
literal sense. For, if you take it figuratively, you have
excused those who are actually guilty of adultery.
But grant that it was said in figure. In that case
it has been spoken of heretics, whose sacraments are
like invalid wedlock, in whose beds is to be found
iniquity, where the very seeds [of life] have been
corrupted to the destruction of the Faith.3

1 rationem veritatis, frater Parmeniane, vel sero, addisce, quoniam
nunc tempus est invenire discendi. G reads tempus discendi invenisti
— evidently an emendation, but the rhythm is wrong, and the
reading of the other MSS. gives good sense. Casaubon suggests
the very violent and unnecessary change Nunc non tempus est
iuvenile discendi.

2 Sap. iii, 16 ; iv, 3 : filios adulterorum inconsummatos et spuria
vitulamina alias radices dare non posse. (Vulgate : ' Filii adulterorum
in inconsummatione erunt, et spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices
altas.' )

8 apud quos sunt sacramentorum falsa connubia, et in quorum
toris iniquitas invenitur, ubi in exterminium Fidei corrupta sunt
semina. For tons Du Pin reads choris with v. But the MSS.
have toris, and the reference to Sap. iii, 16 makes this reading
certain (cf. also note 4, p. 18).

JEREMIAH II, 13 199

When Valentinus maintains that the Son of God
was on earth in a phantasm, not in Flesh, he corrupted
his own faith and that of his followers. The seed of
[spiritual] birth has been rooted out in those who have
not believed that the Son of God was born in the
Flesh of Mary the Virgin, and that in the Flesh He
suffered.

Now with regard to what you mention that you ix. That
have read in the Prophet Jeremiah that the people of passage in
God have done two evil things in that is6 tcTbe

understood

' they forsook the Fountain of living water, and digged P*the
to themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water ' * ;

you have indeed read this, but have been unwilling
to understand the real state of the case.

In your love for bringing charges, you have twisted
round everything so as to abuse Catholics, and, to
suit your own purposes, you have attempted to digress
a great deal according to your own whims.2 For if
you imagine that everything which has been written
by the Prophets belongs to our own times, you are
making excuses for the Jews, concerning whom it is
certain that it was written, that they forsook the
Living God, tlie True God, the God who had bestowed
His Blessings upon them, and made for themselves
idols — that is to say, broken cisterns, which can hold
no water.

In God the Everlasting Majesty flows over,3 even

1 Jer. ii, 13.

a multum ad arbitrium tuum declinare conatus es. RBv have
destinare.

3 in Deo perennis Maiestas exundat. This passage is absolutely

200 IDOLS

as, in a fountain, water freely gushes forth from its
channels. But idols, unless they be made, have no
being, and wells, unless they be dug, hold no water
in their depth.1 Cisterns cannot be hollowed out
without skill and tools, nor can idols be made without
a craftsman. In idols there is no virtue that belongs
to them,2 but it is given and applied to them through
the mistake of man. Virtue is believed to be in an
idol, which is not there of its own nature. A cistern,
the making of which is a weary work,3 is broken with
deliberation, so that neither has it water of itself, nor
of itself can it hold the water that it has received.
Similarly an idol is not anything of itself, and, whilst
it is being worshipped, is nothing.

This is the meaning of the Word of God, that His
people did two evil things, in that they abandoned
the fountain of living water and made for themselves
broken cisterns which they had themselves dug out.
For the people of Israel had forsaken the true water,
had not recognised the Divine Majesty, and had
followed the evil worship of idols.

This it is over which God grieves, this it is at which
He says that the Heaven has shuddered.

corrupt in RBv. Ideo perennis male destans exultant, sicut in
fonte aqua largiter defluentibus venis exuberant. From G it is
clear that Ideo should be in Deo and that male destans should be
Maiestas. Casaubon conjectured exundat for exultant and exuberat
for exuberant. Ziwsa accepts this emendation. It is the text which
I have translated.

1 sinus capaces habere non possunt.

2 in idolis virtus naturalis nulla est.

3 cuius fabrica vexatio est Gb, vexationes RB. Casaubon con
jectured ' cuius si fabrica vitiata est aquam nee habeat etc.'

JEREMIAH II, 13 201

For God grieves over the same thing through the
Prophet Isaiah, when in this matter He calls to witness
two elements with these words :

' Hear, O Heaven, and perceive with thine ears,
0 Earth. I have brought up and have exalted children.
But they have forsaken Me.' l

How is it, my brother Parmenian, that you have
had nothing to say concerning this passage ? Or
why is it that there is here no mention of water ? It
will be seen that, through your love of fault-finding,
you have done such violence to the Law, that, when
ever you read anything of water, you have, by some
conjuring tricks, twisted it round for your purposes
of hatred, and have made a sort of drag-net out of
malicious arguments, and have thus drawn to yourself
all things which in themselves are good.

For what intelligence have you shown 2 with regard
to this passage in Jeremy, since God cries out that He
has been forsaken, and that cisterns have thus been
made ? His wrath is concerning Himself, not concerning
something which is His, for the Baptismal Water belongs
to God, but is not God Himself.3 And if you think
that you [and your baptism] have been deserted, pray
when were any of you baptised 4 among us, so that it

1 Is. i, 2 (cf. Jer. ii, 13).

2 qualis est tuus intellectus — of what kind is your understanding ?

3 pro Se irascitur, non pro re sua. Aqua enim baptismatis res
Dei est, non Deus. Parmenian had taken fons aquae vivae to be
true baptism, which Catholics had forsaken, whereas St. Optatus
points out that it refers to God Himself.

4 baptizati, i.e. rebaptised.

202 VALIDITY OF DONATIST BAPTISMS

should be true that they who deserted your [baptism]
came to us ? l

So we have shown that what you have said about
the Sacraments and sacrifice of a sinner tells not
against us, but against yourselves.

1 et si [vos GJ putatis desertos esse, quando apud vos fuerunt,
qui apud nos baptizati sunt, ut merito vestri desertores ad nos venire
viderentur ? (For, apud vos fuerunt BG read apud nos Juerunt ;
for qui apud nos etc. RB read quia etc.) The Latin of this passage
is obscure and the text not certain, but the argument of Optatus
is clear. ' You say that we have deserted the font of true baptism,
but, granted that you have true baptism, has your baptism ever
been " deserted " by those that came over from you to us ? We have
never rebaptised any who had received baptism at your hands.'
Viderentur is (as so often in Optatus) used pleonastically.

BOOK THE FIFTH

IN THIS FIFTH BOOK IT is SHOWN THAT THOUGH MEN
ARE THE MINISTERS OF BAPTISM, IT is GOD WHO

CLEANSES, AND THAT IT IS HlS CHRIST WHO
GIVES WHAT IS RECEIVED IN BAPTISM, AND THAT

THE REBAPTISED CANNOT POSSESS THE KINGDOM

OF GOD, AND THAT THEY HAVE LOST THE WEDDING

GARMENT.

IN our First Book we have shown by the clearest proofs i. From
who were the Betrayers of the Law x and the originators median's
of the schism ; in the Second we have pointed out
that with us is the One True Catholic Church, whilst
in the Third we have proved that whatever is said Baptism
to have been done with severity cannot rightfully be
in any way ascribed to us. We have also maintained 2
that there is divine warrant for saying that it is
you,3 rather than we, who are ' sinners/ 4

We must now 5 in this place speak of Baptism.
In the matter at present to be considered the whole

1 Legis, id est, of the Holy Scriptures.

2 docuimus. 3 vos esse divino indicia.

* peccatores — i.e. in the matter of the schism (cf. iv, 3 etc.).

6 It will be noticed that in this summary of the preceding Books,
there is no express reference to the Fourth. For this reason
Casaubon thinks that the two lines which are now printed at the
end of the Fourth ought to be placed at the beginning of this
Fifth Book ; Probatum est ergo te non contra nos, sed contra vos
dixisse, quod a te dictum est de oleo et sacrificio peccatoris.

204 CIRCUMCISION

question consists in this, that you have dared to do
violence 1 to Baptism — that you have repeated what
Christ has commanded to be done but once.

And this, my brother Parmenian, you do not
deny, since at the beginning of your treatise you have
said many things which are on our side, and tell for
us, but against you.2 Thus with reference to Baptism,
you have mentioned that there was only one Flood,
and only one Circumcision for the people of the Jews.
But although you dealt with these subjects at the
beginning of your oration,3 as the sermon was
developed 4 you soon forgot all about them, and
introduced two waters ; so you made a silly com
mencement to your argument, for you knew that
you were going on to discuss the true water and the
false.5

You strengthen the oneness of Holy Baptism,
when trying to weaken it 6 ; for you have wished to lay
as it were a foundation, with regard to the Jewish
Circumcision, that the Baptism of Christians had
been foreshadowed in the Circumcision of the Hebrews.
In this way you have defended, whilst attacking,
the Catholic Church. As your treatise progressed,
you claimed to empty of value one kind of Baptism,7
that you might fill the other to the full.8 By saying

quod Baptisma vestra violavit audac-ia.

multa contra vos pro nobis, quae sunt nostra, dixisti (cf. i, 5).

dictionis tuae. (Dictio is a formal piece of rhetoric.)

in processu tractatus tui. Tractatus is usually a sermon

(cf.

p. 176, note 2).

de aqua vera et falsa. 6 infirmando confirmas.

That administered by Catholics.

alterum te inanive professus es, ut alterum replere tridereris,
Videor is again used pleonastically.

A TYPE OF BAPTISM 205

that (apart from the Baptism of heretics l), there is
one Baptism and yet a second,2 you could not deny —
although you have tried to show that they are different 3
— that they are two ; when you endeavoured to re
move one of these,4 you laboured to treat the second 5
as though it were the first.6 But before the coming
of Baptism, Circumcision was sent forward in advance
in a figure. Yet you have maintained that there
are amongst Christians two waters. Show then that
there are also two Circumcisions amongst the Jews —
of which one was the better, the other the worse.
If you search for this, you will not be able to find it.
The family 7 of Abraham — by descent from whom
men are judged to be Jews — glory in being marked
with this seal. Therefore the truth ought afterwards
to follow, like in character to its figure,8 which
was sent on before. For God too, who wished
to show that the reality to come (when the truth
should follow the type) must be something unique,9

1 extra haereticorum Baptisma. By heretics St. Optatus here
understands heretics such as Marcion, Praxeas and Valentinus
(cf. iv, 5), who denied the doctrine of the Trinity. As they did not
baptise in the Name of the Trinity, baptism administered by them
was certainly invalid (cf. notes i, p. 17 ; 2, p. 22). Of such varia et
falsa baptismata (i, 12) there was to be no question in this Book.
They lay outside its scope.

2 Baptisma alterum et alterum.

3 diversa, in the same way that Catholic Baptism differs from
any baptism not administered in the Name of the Trinity.

4 auferre alterum, id est, to deny the validity of Baptism by
Catholics.

6 id est, rebaptism by Donatists.

6 labor asti ut de secundo quasi primum facere videreris. We have
here once more a pleonastic use of videor.

7 prosapia. 8 eius imago.
9 rem singularem post esse debere.

206 THE FLOOD

willed not that anything should be removed from the
ear, nor from the finger ; but that part of the body
was chosen where what had been once cut away l
should leave them with a sign that is to our point,
because it cannot be removed a second time. For
when this is done once it preserves health ; if done
again it may do harm. Similarly, Christian Baptism,
effected by the Trinity,2 confers grace ; if it be repeated
it causes loss of life.

What then has come over you,8 my brother
Parmenian, to bring forward a thing which is one,4
and over against it 5 to compare two Baptisms (even
though you allege that they are different) — the one
true, the other false ? For in this way you have
proceeded to argue that there are two waters, and
claiming one as true for yourselves, wished to ascribe
the other to us as false.6

After this you have made mention also of the
Flood.7 This was indeed a figure of Baptism, inasmuch
as the whole sin-stained world, after the sinners
had been drowned, was, through the intervention of
washing,8 restored — cleansed — to its former appear
ance.9 But since you were going to say that (besides10
the muddy u fountains of the heretics) there was another
water — that is a lying12 water in opposition to the

peritomen semel ablatum. 2 Trinitate confectum.

quid tibi igitur placuit, f rater Parmeniane ?

rem singular em. 5 contra hanc.

mendacem. 7 Cataclysm!.

lavacro intervcniente.

in faciem prisiinam mundaretur.
10 extra. n morbidos.

12 mendacem. The epithet applied by Donatists to Catholic
Baptism.

PATRIPASSIANS

207

true — to what purpose have you thought well to
refer to the Flood, which happened but once ? But
as you will have it so,1 show first two Arks unlike one
another, and two dissimilar doves, bearing different
branches in their mouth — that is, if you are to prove
that there is a true water and another which is
false.

That water alone is true which has been sanctified 2
not from any place, nor by any [human] person,3
but by the Trinity. And, as you have said that
there is a water which is lying,4 learn where you
may find such — with Praxeas, the Patripassian, who
totally 5 denies the Son, and maintains that the Father
has suffered.

Since the Son of God is Truth— as He Himself
bears witness, saying :

' I am the Door, and the Way and the Truth ' 8—

therefore — if the Son of God is Truth — where He is
not, there is a lie. And as the Son is not with the
Patripassian, there the Truth is not, and where the
Truth is not, there the water is lying. So, though
late, cease now to concoct accusations,7 and do not
transfer to Catholics that which was said against
Patripassians.

It has, then, been clearly demonstrated that what
you have said of the Flood and of Circumcision might

1 si ita est. 2 condita est.

3 non de persona, that is not (as the Donatists maintained) from
the sanctity of the baptiser.

4 mendaoem. 5 ex toto.

6 John xiv, 6. 7 conftgere crimina.

208

THE EFFECTS OF BAPTISM

ii.

That in
Baptism
the work
is done
by the
Trinity,
not by the
person of
the
Minister.

have been said just as well by us as in support of
your side.1

It remains to show that you have praised
Baptism in such a way as to bring forward many
things which tell both for you and for us, but some
thing that tells against you. Whatever we share
with you is in favour of both. For this reason does
it favour you, because from us you went out. Thus,
for example, you and we have one ecclesiastical
discipline,2 we read from the same Scriptures,3 we
possess the same Faith, the same Sacraments of
Faith, the same Mysteries. With reason, therefore,
have you praised Baptism, for who amongst the
Faithful is unaware that the one Baptism 4 is life for
virtues, death to evil deeds,5 birth to immortality, the
attainment of the heavenly kingdom, the harbour of
innocence, and (as you too have said) the shipwreck
of sins6? These are the blessings conferred upon
every believer, not by the minister of this Sacrament,
but by the Faith of him who believes and by the
Trinity.

Then you will ask what you have, when praising
Baptism, said against yourselves. Listen ! But first
you must acknowledge something which not one of

1 a nobis et pro vobis. G reads pro nobis. No doubt an emenda
tion, to make the text less difficult.

2 conversatio = manner of life.

3 communes lectiones (St. Optatus, however, seems to contra
dict this in vi, 3, where he accuses the Donatists of having ' furtivas
et alienas lectiones ') .

singulars baptisma.
peccatorum naufragium.

5 criminum mortem.

GENESIS I, 20 209

you will be able to deny.1 You say that the Trinity
counts for nothing,2 unless you be present.3

If you think little of us,4 at least reverence the
Lord, who is First in the Trinity,5 who with His Son
and the Holy Ghost effects and completes all things,6
even when no human person is present.

But, my brother Parmeniari, you have said in
praise of the water, of which we read in the Book of
Genesis, that the waters first gave forth living beings.7
Could they have given them birth of their own
instance8? Was not the whole Trinity there as
well? Surely God the Father was there— He who
had deigned to command :

' Let the waters bring forth swimming things, birds
and the rest.' 9

But if that which was then done were to be done
without any to effect it,10 God would have said :
' O waters, bring forth.'

1 quod omnes negare minime poteritis.
8 In Baptism.

3 The Donatists held that the Invocation of the Trinity effected
nothing in Baptism unless the Minister of the Sacrament was pure
(mundus). But, as they taught that all the Catholics were impure
(inmundi), it followed that they held practically that the Trinity
could do nothing in Baptism unless they were present.

4 si nobis derogatis.

6 qui in Trinitate prior est. The reference is to Psalm cix, i :
' Dixit Dominus Domino meo.'

6 omnia operatur et complet.

7 aquas primum vivas animas edidisse. Parmenian no doubt
had before his mind the following words of Tertullian (De Baptismo) :
' Primus liquor quod viveret edidit ; nee mirum sit in Baptismo,
si aquae animare noverunt.'

8 numquid sua sponte.

8 Gen. i, 20, 10 sine operante.

210 QUESTION CONCERNING

So the Son of God — who effected it1 — was there.
The Holy Ghost was there, as it has been written :

' And the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.' 2

I see nothing there which is a fourth — nothing less
than the Three.3 Yet that which the Trinity effected
came to birth, although you were not there. If then
it be not allowed to the Trinity to do anything without
you, call back the fishes to their first beginning 4 ;
if in your absence the Trinity may not effect any
thing, drown in the waters the birds as they fly.

in. That Since then you have said that there was only

not^o^f one Deluge and that Circumcision could not be

repeated. repeated, whilst we have taught that the heavenly

gift is bestowed upon every believer by the Trinity,

not by man — why have you thought it right to repeat 5

Baptism not after us, but after the Trinity ?

Concerning this Sacrament, no small contention
has been engendered, and the question is discussed 6
whether it be lawful to do this a second time
after the Trinity, in the Name of the same Trinity.
You say :

' It is lawful,'
whilst we say :

' It is not lawful.'
Between your
' It is lawful,'

1 qui operabatur (cf. John i, 3). 2 Gen. i, 2.

3 nihil minus a Tribus. * vevocate pisces in originem,

6 geminare (cf. vi. 2 : inmane f acinus a vobis geminatum est ;
vi. 8 : geminata fraude ; vii. 6 : salutatione geminata).
6 non leve certamen innatum est et dubitatur, an . . .

LAWFULNESS OF REBAPTISM 211
and our

' It is not lawful/

the souls of the multitude hesitate and sway backwards
and forwards.1 Let no one believe either you or us.
We are all like litigants in a suit.2 Judges must be
sought for. If they are to be Christians, they cannot
be provided by either side, because truth is impeded
by party spirit.3 A judge must be sought for from
outside. If he is to be a Pagan, he cannot know
the Christian secrets.4 If he is to be a Jew, he is an
enemy of Christian Baptism. Therefore, concerning
this matter no judgement can be found on earth;
we have to seek a Judge from heaven. But why
need we knock at heaven's gate, when we have at
hand in the Gospel a testament ?

Here earthly things may with reason be compared
with heavenly.5 For example, in the case of any man
who has many « sons, so long as the father is present
he himself gives his orders to each, nor is any testament
necessary. Thus Christ, so long as He was present

nutant et remigant animae populorum.

omnes contentiosi homines sumus.

studiis veritas impeditur. Cf . i, 26 : ' de studio partium strepitus
cot diam sunt habiti.'

non potest Christiana nosse seer eta.

Obviously this comparison cannot be unduly pressed. The
Gospels cannot strictly be called Christ's Will, since not one word
hem had been written at the time of His Death. St. Optatus
and St. Augustine after him (see note 2, p. 212), took advantage'
for the purpose of their argument, of the word Testamentum (8m0W
which was already in use, though in a quite different sense, for the
Sacred Books of the New Covenant. Dean Swift in his Tale of a
lub (Section II) is thought by some to have had this passage in his

mind- 6 numerosos*

P 2

212 CHRIST'S TESTAMENT

on earth (although even now He is not absent), gave
His orders to the Apostles with regard to whatever
was necessary for the time. But just as an earthly
father, who feels himself to be on the borderland of
death, and fears lest his sons may break peace after
his death, and go to law, calls in witnesses and transfers
his will from his breast, so soon to pass away, to a
record which will last for a long time 1 — and should
any dispute arise amongst the brothers, they do not
go to the grave, but the testament is looked for, and
he who rests in the grave silently speaks from the
record ; in the same manner He, to whom the testa
ment belongs, is in heaven — therefore let His Will
be sought in the Gospel as in His testament.2

For through His foreknowledge Christ had fore
seen the things which you do now, but which were

1 de pectore morituro transfert in tabulas diu duraturas.

2 Catholics have always appealed in domestic dissensions amongst
themselves on theological questions, concerning which the Church has
not spoken authoritatively, to the testimony of (i) Holy Scripture,
(2) Apostolic Tradition. In dissensions with heretics they have
appealed to the testimony of Scripture, which heretics profess
at least to accept. So St. Augustine in controversy with the
Donatists makes the same appeal, and indeed uses the same words
as St. Optatus : ' Fratres sumus ; quare litigamus ? Non intestatus
mortuus est Pater ; fecit testamentum et sic mortuus est . . , Sedet
Christus in caelo, et contradicitur Eius testamento ' (in Ps. xxi) , But
St, Augustine makes this appeal with greater caution than did St.
Optatus. St. Optatus in the text appeals to John xiii, 7, in order to
prove that Baptism may not be repeated ; whereas St. Augustine, who
no doubt felt that this was a forced application (cf . con. Petil. ii, 22)
of the text, prefers to press the appeal to Scripture in order to prove
thereby that the Catholic Church is the one Church of Christ. This
he does without ceasing, urging the authority of the Catholic Church
as decisive. When the discussion concerns any particular question
(e.g. the repetition of Baptism) St. Augustine prefers to appeal to
Apostolic Tradition rather than to Holy Scripture (cf . De Unit, xix ;
De Bapt. ii, 7, iv, 6, v, 23).

JOHN XIII, 8 213

then yet to come. Accordingly, when the Son of
God washed the feet of His disciples, He spoke thus
to Peter :

' That which I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know afterwards.' x

By saying ' thou shalt know afterwards ' He pointed
out these present times. In this way amongst other
prescriptions of His testament,2 He gave this
prescription 3 concerning the Water. If, when He
washed the feet of His disciples, and the others were
silent, Peter had also been silent, He would have
set the example of humility only,4 and would have
made no declaration respecting the Sacrament of
Baptism. But when Peter refuses, and does not
allow his feet to be washed, Christ refuses him the
Kingdom, unless he should accept this service.5 But
so soon as there is mention of the heavenly Kingdom—
whereas part of his body was demanded to have
service rendered unto it — he offered his whole body
to be cleansed.6

Now come, be present, ye crowds and all Christian
peoples,7 and learn what is lawful. When Peter
makes his appeal,8 Christ teaches. Let him who
doubts learn. For it is the Voice of Christ :

' He, who has once been washed, has no need of being
washed again, for he is altogether clean.' 9

1 John xiii, 8. » inter ceteros Testament! titulos.

3 hunc titulum. * solam formam humilitatis. 5 obsequium.
8 quo pars corporis petebatur ad obsequium, totum corpus obtulit
ad lavacrum.

7 nunc adestote, omnes turbae et singuli Christiani populi.

8 dum provocat Petrus. 9 mundus totus, John xiii, 10.

214 THE THREE NAMES IN

And thus did He make His declaration concerning
that washing * which he had commanded to be done
through the Trinity 2 — not concerning that of Jews
or heretics, who, whilst they wash, defile,3 but con
cerning the holy water which flows from the fountains
of the Three Names.4

For thus the Lord Himself commanded, when He
said :

' Go, baptise all nations in the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost/ 5

This was the washing 6 of which He said :

' He that has been washed once has no need of being
washed a second time.'

In saying once He forbade it to be done again, and
spoke of the thing, not of the person.7 For if there
had been a difference 8 [to be considered between
persons], He would have said :

' He that has been rightly 9 washed once/

but by not adding the word rightly, He points out
that whatever has been done in the [Name of the]
Trinity is done rightly. This is the reason why we
receive without rebaptising 10 those who come [to us]
from you. When Christ says :

1 de eo lavacro. z de Trinitate.

a qui dum lavant, sordidant.

4 quo de Trium Nominumfontibus inundat. Cf. note 3, p. 88.

6 Matt, xxviii, 19. 6 de hoc lavacro dixit

7 de ve locutus est non de persona (sc. the Minister of the Sacra
ment).

8 distantial (Cf. v, 4 infra : ' vos vultis eiusdem personae esse
distantiam.')

9 bene. 10 simpliciter.

THE ONE BAPTISM 215

' He has no need of being washed a second time/

this is a general, not a particular declaration,1 for if
these things had been said to Peter [only], Christ
would have said :

' Because thou hast been once washed, thou hast no
need of being washed a second time.'

Wherefore, whenever anyone who has been baptised
by you wishes to pass over to us, we, taught by this
command and example, receive him with all simplicity.2
For far be it from us 3 ever to exorcise one of the
Faithful who has been made whole 4 ; far be it from us
to bring back to the font one who has been already
washed,5 far from us to sin against the Holy Ghost —
an offence for which forgiveness is denied in this world
and in the world to come 6 ; far from us to repeat 7 that
which is [to be done] only once,8 or to make twofold 9
that which is one. For thus has it been written by
the Apostle :

' One God, one Christ, one Faith, one Baptism.10 '
Do you then, who seem to take delight11 in striving

1 haec sententia generalis est non specialis.

2 venientem hoc magisterio et exemplo tota simplicitate suscipimus.,

3 absit. 4 sanum fidelem.

5 ut iam lotum revocemus ad fontem. It may be noted that in
the Catholic Church to-day, whenever a convert has to be condi
tionally baptised, in consequence of some doubt as to the ' Matter '
and ' Form ' of his Baptism outside the Church (e.g. as to whether it
was in Trinitate), this ceremony does not take place at the font,
but elsewhere in privacy.

6 Cf. Matt, xii, 31-32 ; Mark iii, 28-29 ; Luke xii, 10.

7 iteremus. 8 quod semel est. 9 duplicemus,

10 una tinctio (cf. Eph. iv, 5).

11 quasi libentev duplicare contenditis.

216 THE ONE FAITH

to make Baptism twofold, if you give a second Baptism,
give a second Faith ; if you give a second Faith, give
also a second Christ ; if you give a second Christ, give
a second God ?

You cannot deny that God is one — unless indeed
you would fall into the traps of Marcion.1 God then
is one. Of one God there is one Christ.2 He who is
rebaptised had before been made a Christian. How
can he be said to become a Christian a second time ? 3

The one Faith is thus separated from the errors of
the heretics, and the one only Faith from their varying
faith.4 It has also a prescriptive right over against
you,5 who reject that which is for once only, attributing
everything to the [external] Endowments, nothing
to the [hidden] Sacraments 6 ; though this quality of
Faith 7 belongs to the believer, not to the ' Minister/ 8
For he who has believed in God at the interrogation

1 in Marcionis foveas (cf. iv, 5 ; i, 9).

2 De uno Deo units est Christus.

3 A man who has been born once, either in the natural or super
natural order, cannot be born again in the same order of things.

4 una fides ab haereticorum enoribus, et ab eorum varia fide fides
unica sepavahw.

5 etiam vobis praescribitur, i.e. the first Baptism is ' in possession.'
Cf. infra: quod praescribat praesumptionibus vestris.

6 totum ponendo in dotibus, nihil in Sacramentis (cf. ii, 10, where
the thought is more fully developed : ' Cur de solis ecclesiae dotibus
loqui voluisti et iam illud respondeas et de sanctis eius membris
ac visceribus tacuisti, quae sunt procul dubio in Sacramentis et in
Nominibus Trinitatis ? ' ).

7 hoc nomen fidei. St. Optatus writes of Nomen Christianum
(iii, 8) ; Catholicum (iii, i) ; Ecclesiae (i, 21 ; iii, 5) ; Baptismatis
(v, 4) ; Traditorum (i, 28) ; Legis (vii, i) ; fraternitatis (i, 3) ; pietatis
(iii, 10) ; communionis (vii, 6).

8 pertineat ad credentem, non ad operantem (i.e. minister of
the Sacrament).

THE THREE ELEMENTS IN BAPTISM 217

of any person whomsoever,1 has believed. Yet after
his one Credo thou dost exact a second Credo*

It follows then that Baptism is one, and, as,
through the very fact that it is one, it is holy, so also,
through the very fact that it is one, not only that it
should be separated from the profane and sacrilegious
baptisms of heretics, but also that what is one should
not be made twofold, and that what is for once only
should not be repeated.

It is clear that in the celebration of this Sacrament iv. That
of Baptism there are three elements,3 which you will notSt£°d'
not be able either to decrease or diminish, or put on
one side. The first is in the Trinity, the second in
the believer,4 the third in him who operates.5 But Sacrament
they must not all be weighed by the same measure.6 Baptism,
For I perceive that two are necessary, and that one is
quasi-necessary.7 The Trinity holds the chief place,
without whom the work itself cannot be done. The
faith of the believer follows next. Then comes the
office of the ' Minister,' 8 which cannot be of equal

1 quocumque enim interrogate, qui credidit Deo, credidit.

2 post illius unum ' Credo,' tu exigis alterum ' Credo.' The
reference is to the baptismal interrogatories.

species. Literally aspects, points of view.

in credente (the subject of the Sacrament).

in operante (the minister of the Sacrament).

non pari libramine ponderandae sunt singulae.

quasi necessaria. Cf. ' quasi ecclesia ' (iii, 10). ' Contingently
necessary ' is Mr. Sparrow Simpson's translation (op. cit. p. 47). It
conveys the idea that the appointment of a Minister in Baptism is not
absolutely necessary in itself, but contingent on the Will of God.
I doubt, however, whether this thought was before the mind of
Optatus. His argument proceeds, as we shall see immediately,
on somewhat different lines.

8 persona operantis. Persona from the part played by an actor

2i8 THE BODY OF

authority. The first two remain always unchangeable
and unmoved. For the Trinity is always Itself ; and
the Faith is the same in everyone.1 Both [the Trinity
and Faith] always preserve their own efficacy. It
will be seen, therefore, that the office of the minister 2
cannot be equal to the other two elements3 [in the
Sacrament of Baptism], because it alone is liable to
change.

You will have it that between you and us there
is a distinction, though the office is the same,4 and,
judging yourselves to be more holy than we, you do
not hesitate to place your pride higher than the Trinity,5
although the person of the ' Minister ' can be changed,
but the Trinity cannot be changed. And, whereas it
is Baptism which should be longed for by those who
receive it, you put yourselves forward as the persons
to be eagerly sought after.

Since you are — amongst others — ' Ministers ' of the
Sacrament, show what is the nature of the place that
you occupy in this Mystery, and whether you can
belong to its ' body ' !

The Name of Baptism is but one.6 It possesses

= here the duty which the ' minister ' has to perform. — the official
work assigned to him.

1 fides in singulis una est. 2 persona operantis.

3 duabus prioribus speciebus par esse non posse.

4 eiusdem personae esse distantiam. Persona, sc. operantis
(v. supra) . In the administration of Baptism, whether Peter baptises
or Judas, there can be no real distantia. For distantia, as used by
Optatus, cf. v, 3 : Nam si esset distantia (i.e. personae, as here) ;
i, 10 (inter schismaticos et haereticos) ; i, 21 (delictorum, i.e. inter
delicta) .

6 For they attributed the efficacy of Baptism, not to the work
of the Trinity, but to their own sanctity.

8 Baptismatis unicum nomen est. There is only one Baptism.
(Cf. Singulare Baptisma, passim.)

BAPTISM 219

its own body 1 — a body which has its own well-defined
members,2 to which nothing can be added, in which
nothing can be taken away. If the ' Minister ' who
has to be chosen is counted as one of these members,3
then the whole body belongs to the ' Minister.' All
these members are both at all times and once for all
with this ' body/ and cannot be changed, whereas the
' Ministers ' are changed every day, both as to place
and time, and in their own persons.4 For it is not one
man only, who baptises always or everywhere. This
work is now done by different men from those who
did it of old. In the time to come it will be done by
yet others. The ' Ministers ' can be changed ; the
Sacraments cannot be changed. Since therefore you
see that all who baptise are labourers, not lords,5

1 cui subest proprium corpus.

z cui covpovi certa sunt membra. That which we now call the
Matter and Form of the Sacrament.

8 i.e. of the ' body ' of Baptism. The ' Minister ' has to be
chosen, and consequently is external to the ' body ' of Baptism.
This reminds us of the converse argument that Umbilicus cannot be
reckoned as one of the Endowments, because it is not external to
the Body of the Church, but is a member (membrum) of that Body
(ii, 8). Evidently St. Optatus looked on the Minister in Baptism
as a sort of ' Dos Baptismatis.'

4 The water, the invocation of the Trinity, the Trinity Itself,
the Faith never change. They are always one everywhere and are
always necessary — from the first Christian Baptism to the last
that shall be administered before the coming of our Lord. Every
thing else admits of change — the place, the time, the person of the
' Minister."

6 operarios esse non dominos. The reference clearly is to Luke x, 2 :
' Rogate Dominum messis ut mittat operarios in messem suam/
where Challoner's N.T. and both the A.V. and R.V. translate
operarios ' labourers ' (the old Rheims has workmen) . Consequently
I think it better to employ the word labourers here in order to
recall the gospel text, though elsewhere, for the sake of lucidity,
I translate operarius with reference to Baptism by the theological
word Ministers

220 SACRAMENTA PER SE SANCTA

and that the Sacraments are holy through themselves,
not through men,1 why do you claim so much for
yourselves ? Why is it that you try to shut God out
from His own gifts ? Allow Him to bestow those
things, which are His own. For that gift, which belongs
to God, cannot be given by man. If you think other
wise, you are endeavouring to make of no effect the
words of the Prophets and the promises of God, by
which it is proved that it is God, not man, who cleanses.
Here David the Prophet is against you, for he says in
the fiftieth Psalm :

' Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be cleansed beyond
the snow ' 2 ;

and again in the same Psalm :

' O God, wash me from my wickedness and cleanse me
from my sin.' 3

1 Sacramento, per se esse sancta, non per homines. Harnack
writes of these words (History of Dogma, v, p. 42) : ' This is the
famous principle of the objectivity of the Sacraments, which became
so fundamental for the development of the dogmatics of the Western
Church, although it could not be carried out in all its purity in the
Roman Church, because in that case it would have destroyed the
prerogatives of the clergy.' It is difficult to see what Harnack
had in his mind when he wrote this last qualifying sentence. Nothing
can be more certain than that the Roman Church has always taught,
without any limitation or qualification whatsoever, that the efficacy
of the Sacraments is always and everywhere independent of the
virtues or vices of those who administer them. Harnack in this
passage probably used the words Roman Church as synonymous
with Western Church (although this would not appear to be the
case at first reading), since he would not wish to suggest that there
is any difference in doctrine or practice between any Catholic Church
in the West and the Church in Rome. But whilst recognising this,
we are none the nearer to a comprehension of his real meaning.

2 Ps. 1, 9. 8 Ps. 1, 4.

NON PER HOMINES 221

He said : ' Wash me.' He did not say :

' Choose for me one by whom I may be washed.'
And the Prophet Isaiah also has written that

' the Lord shall wash away the defilement of the sons and
daughters of Sion.' x

We have proved in our Third Book that Sion is the
Church 2 ; it follows that God washes the sons and
daughters of the Church. He did not say :

' They shall wash who judge themselves to be holy.'

Admit then that the Prophets overcome you, or,
with them, recognise that it is not man who washes,
but God.

As long as you ask :

' How can he give, who has not anything to give ? ' 3

understand that it is the Lord who is the giver,4
understand that it is God who cleanses each man,
whoever he may be ; for no one can wash away the
defilement and stains of the mind, but God alone, who
is also the Maker of the mind.5 Or, if you think that

1 Is. iv, 4. 2 iii, 2.

3 ' qui non habet quod det, quomodo dat ? ' This was the great
argument of St. Cyprian and his school against the validity of
Baptism outside the Church. ' How,' they asked, ' can a man give
the Faith which he has not got ? No one can give what he has not.'
In like manner the Donatists went on to argue that Baptism by
a sinner was invalid, for — so they urged — by true Baptism grace
is given ; but the sinner without grace cannot give what he has
not. To this St. Optatus answers that it is God, not man, who
bestows gifts in Baptism.

* videte Dominum esse datorem. These words are omitted by
RBv.

8 qui eiusdem fabricator est mentis.

222 GOD THE AUTHOR

it is your washing1 [that cleanses], tell us what is the
nature of this mind,2 which is washed through the
body, or what ' form ' 3 it has, or in what part of a
man it dwells. To know this has not been granted to
any. How, then, do you think that it is you who
cleanse, when you do not know the nature of that
which you cleanse ? It belongs not to man, but to
God to cleanse, for He has Himself promised that
He will cleanse, through the Prophet Isaiah, when
He said :

' Even though your sins are like scarlet, I will make
you white as snow.' 4

He said :

' I will make you white/
and not :

' I will cause you to be made white.'

If this has been promised by God, why do you wish
to give that which it is not permitted to you either to
promise, or to give, or to have ? Behold by Isaiah
God has promised Himself to wash those stained by
sin, not through a man.5

Go back to the Gospel, and see what Christ has
promised for the salvation of the human race. When

1 lavacrum vestrum. z qualis est ipsa mens.

3 quam habet formam. * Is. i, 18.

6 As St. Optatus has said already, man is by God's appointment
the necessary (or rather the quasi-necessary) minister of the Sacra
ment. But God gives His Grace in Baptism directly to the baptised.
He does not give it through a man — that is to say, He does not give
it first to the ' Minister,' making him holy, so that this ' Minister,'
by his own holiness, gives grace — though this would follow logically
from Donatist principles.

OF GRACE 223

the Samaritan woman refused water to the Son of
God, then He said that which gives His answer to
your contentions 1 :

' He who shall drink the water which I give shall not
thirst for ever.' 2

He said :

' the water which 7 give.'
He did not say :

' which they shall give, who deem themselves holy,'

as you think yourselves to be ; but He did say that
He would give. He Himself, therefore, it is who gives,
and that which is given is His own. What, therefore,
is it which you strive, with absolute unreasonableness,3
to vindicate for yourselves ?

To give the final proof concerning this matter, John v. Why
the Baptist, the forerunner of the Saviour, when he was S^itej,
baptising many to repentance and the remission of J^??f

- * . AII i v^orist We

their sins,4 declared that the Son of God was about to conferred
come. These are his words :

' Behold, He cometh to baptise you.' 5

Yet we do not read that Christ rebaptised anyone
after John. With regard, therefore, to these words :

' He cometh to baptise you,'
Christ coming after John baptised no one. This

1 quod praescribat praesumptionibus vesttis.
* John iv, 13.

3 tota inportunitate. For inportunitas see ii, 18.

4 in poenitentia et remissa peccatorum (cf . i, 9 : in remissam
peccatorum) . 6 john i, 33.

224 THE BAPTISM OF JOHN

promise was made for our times, that He might give
what is given to-day, according to His Word :

' He who shall drink the water which I give shall not
thirst for ever.'

And although the disciples of John said to their master :
' Behold He, whom thou hast baptised, baptises/ *

He baptised indeed, but by the hands of His Apostles,
to whom He had given the laws of Baptism. As it
has been written in another place :

' For He Himself baptised no one, but His disciples
baptised.' 2

In this matter we are all His disciples, so that we
should work,3 in order that He may give, who promised
that He would give. Still, when John was baptising
many 4 thousands of men, even in the presence of Christ,
the servant worked, and the Lord did nothing 5 until
He gave the Form of Baptism.6 After the lapse of
a considerable period,7 thousands of men were washed
in repentance and forgiveness of sins. But no one was
washed in the Trinity, no one yet knew Christ, no one
had heard that there was a Holy Ghost. But when
there came the fullness of time, at a fixed moment, the

1 Cf. John iii, 26. 2 John iv, 2.

3 ut nos operemur,

4 infinita millia (cf . iii, 6 : sub lohanne infinita multitude
hominum baptizata est).

5 operabatur servus et vacabat Dominus. There is a specific
distinction between the Baptism of John and the Baptism of Christ.
(Cf. v. 5 : alterum fuerit baptisma lohannis et alterum sit Christi.)

6 antequam baptizandi daret formam.

1 peractum est non modicum tempus Gb, per acccptum non modicum
tempus RBv. Ziwsa has suggested per actum non modicum tempus.

THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST 225

Son of God gave the laws of Baptism. He gave also
the way by which we might go to the Kingdom of
Heaven, for He then commanded :

' Go ye, teach all nations, baptising them in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost/ *

From that day what He had commanded had to
be done. It was not His will to amend that which
had been done before that time, lest He might [seem
to] give permission to rebaptise— although the Baptism
of John was one thing, and the Baptism of Christ is
another. Before His law [was given] He willed the
Baptism of John, which was not full, to be held for full.
And yet with regard to the thousands of men mentioned
above, although they knew not the Son of God and
the Holy Ghost, He could not refuse them the Kingdom
of Heaven, because they had believed in God. So
it is the Voice of the Son of God, who says :

' From the days of John to this day the Kingdom of
Heaven suffereth violence, and they who do violence bear
it away.' 2

For this reason does He say :
' They who do violence,' 3

because John was still baptising. So, because the
time before His commandments 4 was different from
the time after His commandments, they who have
been baptised in the Name of the Saviour after the
commandments,5 have entered the Kingdom, through

1 Matt, xxviii, 19. 2 Matt, xi, 12.

3 gui vim faciunt. « ante praecepta, sc. de Baptismate.

5 post praecepta.

226 ACTS XX, i

the laws *• [of Baptism], whilst those who were before
the commandments did violence,2 without the law,
but were not shut out. Therefore, though before
the commandments,3 the Baptism of John was im
perfect, it was judged by Him, in whose place no
man judges,4 as though it were perfect,5 because a
certain line of division 6 was placed between the times
that preceded and those that followed His command.7

When the most blessed Paul saw some at Ephesus
who had been baptised, after the commandments8
[of Christ], in the Baptism of John, he asked them
whether they had received the Holy Ghost.9 They
replied that they did not know whether there was a
Holy Ghost, and he said to them that, after the
Baptism of John, they must receive the Holy Ghost.

They had been baptised, in the same manner 10 as
had been the many whom John had baptised. But those
who had been baptised before the law,11 belonged to
the time of exemption,12 for He had been present who
could give exemption. Those who were not bound

in Regnum legibus intraverunt. 2 vim fecerunt,

ante praecepta. 4 cui nemo iudicat.

pro perfecto iudicatum est.

quasi quidam limes. Ziwsa says that limes = terminus.

iussionis inter tempora antecedentia et sequentia. St. Optatus
held that the Baptism of John conferred grace before the institution
of Christian Baptism, but not afterwards. From this it follows that
anyone who had received the Baptism of John after the institution
of Christian Baptism had to receive the Baptism of Christ. This
he proceeds to deduce from Acts xix, i seq.

8 post praecepta. 9 an accepissent Spiritum Sanctum.

10 sic . . . quern admodum, i.e. even without any knowledge of the
Mystery of the Trinity.

11 ante legem, sc. Baptismatis.

12 ad indulgentiam pertinuerunt.

MATTHEW XI, 12 227

by the laws 1 were altogether not guilty.2 But those
who, as we read, were baptised at Ephesus with the
Baptism of John after the law,3 had after the laws4
erred in the Sacrament,5 because the Baptism of the
Lord had now been introduced and the Baptism of
the servant had been abrogated.6 And so it is that,
after the divine commands,7 men had to go into the
Kingdom by laws,8 not by violence.9 For Christ had
already fixed the limit of time by saying :

' From the days of John until to-day.' 10

After ' to-day ' that which was lawful yesterday
was lawful no longer. Wherefore do not deceive
yourselves n with the saying of the Apostle Paul,12
for he did not ask about the person of the ' Minister,'
but about the thing.13 With the fact, not with the
person, he was dissatisfied. So he commanded the
Baptism of the Saviour, that they who did not know
might learn, for this 14 they had not received, but
something different. But what do you change ? If
you have been able to change things,15 you will have

legibus (sc. Baptismatis) non occupati. 2 non erant ex toto vei.
post legem, sc. Baptismatis. 4 post leges, sc. Baptismatis.
in Sacramento erraverant. 6 exclusum fuerat.

post mandata divina, sc. de Baptismate.
legibus (sc. Baptismatis) debuerant ire in regnnm.
non per violentiam. 10 Matt, xi, 12.

T nolite vobis blandiri. 12 At Ephesus.

13 non post personam operarii interrogavit, sed post rem (cf. v, 3).
St. Paul did not enquire as to the character of him who had
administered the Sacrament, but as to the fact whether its recipients
had received the Holy Ghost.

14 non ipsum, sc. Baptisma Salvatoris.

16 res. With a reference to that which he has just written of
St. Paul enquiring not about the persona, but about the res.

228 THE TEACHING OF

done well, provided you have acted according to the
Law.1 Paul said :

' In what Baptism have you been baptised ? ' 2
and they said to him :
' The Baptism of John.'

He persuaded them to receive the Baptism of Christ.
You do not say :

' What have you received ? '
but

' From whom have you received it ? '

and you inveigh against the characters of men, and
wish to repeat what is for once only. They who had
been baptised at Ephesus, had believed in repentance
and the forgiveness of sins. Rightly was it said to
them, that they should be baptised in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. But
what is there for you to change in men, who have
already made profession3 that they believe in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost ? 4 Whether you ask them this again, or some-

1 si tamen de lege aliquid feceritis. By the law is here still meant
Christ's Law concerning Baptism. If the Donatists had put right
any baptisms, which had not been validly administered, they had
done well ; e.g. if they had baptised any persons who had received
a baptism, but not in the Name of the Trinity. Such, however, was
not the case.

2 Acts xix, 3. 3 In their Baptism.

4 Parmenian had urged that Baptism given outside the Church
was null and must be repeated, because those baptised by the
Baptist were baptised anew by the Apostles. Optatus answers
that the cases are not parallel. The same reply is given by
Augustine, con. Petit, ii, 37, iii, 56 ; De Bapt. v, 9, 10 etc.

ST. PAUL 229

thing else, be convinced that you must sin — if you
either interrogate concerning that which has not been
commanded, or wish to do something which has
been done already.

|I return now to that question of yours : vi. An

answer
' How is he, who has not anything to give, able to to the

•j > argument,

give? thltaman

cannot

Whence comes this saying ? Where can it be found ? give that
It has not been read in a book, but has been brought has not.6
in from the street.1

' How is he, who has not anything to give, able to
give ? '

These words have not been written in the Law,
for if (as you will have it) it is man who gives, God
does nothing — and if God does nothing, and if every
thing that has to be given is in your hands, then [the
baptised] are converted to you. Let those whom you
baptise be washed in your name. Blush at the most
blessed Paul, who cries out and expresses his thanks
giving :

' Have you been baptised in my name ? ' 2

He rejoices that he baptised only two persons and
one household, but you strive to rebaptise whole
peoples, and are contented3 both to have sinned in
the past, and to go on sinning, saying :

' What does he give, who has not anything to give ? '

1 vox est de vico conlecta, non de libra lecta. A mere catchword
without any real authority. It is impossible to express in English
the verbal antithesis between conlecta and lecta*

1 i Cor. i, 13. 3 gaudetis.

230

SUBORDINATE PLACE OF

VII.

That the
Grace of
Baptism
is the gift
of God,
not of
man, who
is shown
to be
only the
Minister.

He, in whom we believe, is Himself the giver of that
in which we believe, not another through whose instru
mentality we are brought to believe.1 Besides, under
John a vast 2 multitude of men were baptised. Prove
(if you can) that John either received, or possessed,
anything to give.

He was the ' Minister ' 3 ; the gift was from God,
who does not fail in giving. And now whilst we all
are Ministers of Baptism, the works are man's, but
the gifts are from God.4

So consider how ridiculous is that saying, which
is always heard to come from you, as though for
your glorification :

' This gift of Baptism belongs to him who gives, not to
him who receives.' 5

And would that you should say this of God, who
is the true Giver.6 But — a stupid thing — you say
that you are the givers. If this be so, suppose that
both you and we are dealing with two Pagans.7 Do
you, who say that you are holy, ask the one whom you
have in your hands,8 whether he renounces the Devil
and believes the Lord, and we will suppose that he
says :

' I will not.' 9

cui creditur ipse dat, quod creditur, non per quern creditur.
infinita. 3 illo operante.

humana sunt opera, sed Dei sunt munera.
hoc munus baptismatis esse dantis, non accipientis.
qui huius rei dator est.

et nos et vos teneamus singulos gentiles. Cf . i, 8 : nihil interesset
inter fideles et unumquemque gentilem.
8 quern tenetis. 9 ' nolo,'

THE MINISTER IN BAPTISM 231

On the other hand, let us who, as you will have
it, are sinners, ask the other Pagan, whether he re
nounces the Devil, and believes God and the other
questions, and we will suppose that he says :

' I do renounce and I do believe, and the rest ' l —

will you tell me when you baptise the one who is
unwilling, and we baptise the other who is willing,
which of these two can arrive at the grace of God ?

Surely, without doubt, it is acquired by the one who
believes, not by him, in whose case, as you say, your
holiness takes the place of his own will.2 Recognise,
though late, that you are only ministers. Or if (you say
that) the work is in the workmen, and not in itself,
find some who will claim this for themselves in their arts,
so that we may, according to your challenge, compare
human arts with things that are divine.

When something is dyed with a precious colour,
its nature is often changed. A white fleece is dyed,
and becomes purple.3 Even as the white wool passes
into the royal purple, so the catechumen passes into
the Christian.4 Surely, whilst he begins to be that
which he was not, he ceases to be that which he was.
The wool changes both its colour and its name,
and the man changes both his appellation and his

1 ' renuntio et credo ' et cetera.

2 non ille, pro emus voluntate, ut dicitis, sanctitas vestra succedit.
For succedit cf. i, 3 : ' Petrus, cui successit Linus,' etc. In pro
cuius voluntate we have another curious example of Optatus' use
of pronouns. Cf. v, 5 : ' Qui non post personam operarii interro-
gavit.'

8 confectione vellus candidum puvpurascit. Cf. Cic. in Acad. ap.
Non. 2, 717 : ' Nonne unda, cum est pulsa remis, purpurascit ? '
* ftdelem.

232 THE MINISTER A LABOURER

disposition.1 We have to think of the results that have
been effected, and must consider once more what it is
that has effected those results.2 You say that it is
your gift that has made that man a Christian.

If this is all your doing, then the workman also who
makes the purple, may say that he has the precious
colour in his own hands, and has no need to procure
from the Ocean precious dyes — unknown to many —
that the fleeces may be promoted to a marvellous
dignity,3 and is free to assert that he can make the
purple, merely by his touch, without admixture from
the blood of the fish.

But if on the contrary this workman is unable to
give the colour by his touch alone, then neither is the
workman in Baptism able to give anything of himself
without the Trinity.

Such is this question, about which we have our
present contention. For in Whom the nations should
be baptised has been ordained by the Saviour. Through
whom they should be baptised was appointed with
out the making of any exception. He did not say
to the Apostles :

' Do it you ! Let not others do it.'

Whosoever has baptised in the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, has discharged
the Apostles' work.

And so it has been written in the Gospel.4 When
John said :

1 et vocabulum mutat et mentem.

2 consideranda sunt effecta, retractanda sunt efficientia.

3 quibus tincta vellera per colorem promoveantur in admirabilem
dignitatem: • Luke ix, 49.

NOT A LORD 233

' 0 Master, we have seen one casting out devils in Thy
Name, and we have forbidden him, because he followeth
not with us/

Christ said :

' Forbid him not, for he that is not against you is for
you.' l

For to them the command had been given that their
work should be sanctification by the Trinity,2 and
that they should not baptise in their own name, but
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. Therefore it is the Name which sanctifies,
not the work.3

Understand, though late in the day, that you are
labourers not lords.4 And, if the Church is the Vineyard,
and men are the vines, and those who are to attend
to the vines have been duly appointed, why do you
rush upon that which appertains to the dominion of
the Father of the Family ? Why do you claim for
yourselves what belongs to God ? Why do you wish
that something of which you cannot have even a part,
should be yours altogether ? For on account of
swelling pride — yours — with which you are swollen
against us 5 — the most blessed Paul chides the

1 Luke ix, 49, 50.

2 ut opus esset illorum sanctificatio Trinitatis.

3 ergo Nomen est, quod sanctificat, non opus.

4 operarios esse non dominos. Cf. note 2, p. 22.

6 nam propter tumorem vestrum, quo in nos intumescitis. We
may notice the verbal alliteration tumorem . . . intumescitis.
St. Optatus does not, of course, mean to imply that St. Paul any
more than Isaiah or Ezekiel had received a supernatural gift of
prophecy, whereby Apostle or Prophet could consciously to him
self foresee and provide medicine for the troubles brought on by
Donatism. But the lessons given for all time by the Sacred Writers
seemed to Optatus especially applicable to his own days.

234 WORK IN

Corinthians. In himself and Apollo he gives a picture
of that which happens in our time.1

' Let not one/ he said, ' be puffed up against another.' 2

And, that he may show how all this Sacrament of
Baptism belongs to God, so that there is nothing here
that the ' Minister ' may claim for himself, he speaks
as follows : 3

' I indeed have planted ' —
that is,

' of a pagan I have made a catechumen ' — ' Apollo has
watered '-

that is, he has baptised the catechumen, but God has
given that which had been planted, or watered, the
power to grow. In like manner anyone to-day, who
wishes to dig up and loosen the ground in his vineyard,4
hires a labourer 5 for an agreed sum, to make holes in the
ground, in which — with bent back, the sweat running
down his sides — he may place the little vines that have
been selected,6 and (after he has trodden the ridges
under his feet) pour water upon them. He is able to
dig at the trenches and plant the vines. He is able
to bring them water, but he is not able to command
the water to hold them 7 ; it is in the power of God

in se et Apollo actus nostri temporis conformat.

i Cor. iv, 6. 3 i Cor. iii, 6.

vine am suam pastinare. 5 operarium.

electa plantaria.

aquam inducere potest ; imperare, ut teneat, non potest. It is
very difficult to understand what is meant here by ut teneat. How
can water hold the vines ? Possibly he may be the subject of teneat :
' He cannot command the vines, so as to keep them there.' If for
teneat we read teneant, we might translate in an intransitive sense :

A VINEYARD 235

alone from the pith of vine-branches to bring forth
roots which assimilate themselves to the soil, and the
budding eyelets, out of which leaves burst forth.1

Even as the blessed Apostle Paul, to tame your
presumption and pride, and that the workman 2 may
not think either that he has any dominion over Baptism,
or claim any share for himself — however small — in so
great a gift, writes as follows, showing that all belongs
to God :

' Neither he that plants nor he that waters is any
thing, but God alone, who leads to the attainment of the
increase V

You are workmen amongst others. When the sun
goes in,4 that is to say, when the world has come to an

' He cannot order that they hold ' = coalesces in terram (infra).
But nothing is really satisfactory. Casaubon thinks that the ut
teneat is probably a corrupt gloss due to some scribe who could not
understand the imperare standing alone. The meaning is clear.
'It is God alone who can ripen the vine. Casaubon suggests that
if St. Optatus wrote anything between imperare and non potest,
it was vineae. On the other hand, cf . iv, 9 : Lacus detritos, qui
non possunt aquam continere. St. Optatus, who often slightly varies
his phrases, may have had this phrase unconsciously lingering in
his ear.

1 de medullis palmitum producers radices coalescentes in terram
et gemmantes oculos, incrementa frondium provocare. Coalescentes :
cf. Plin. xiv. 2 : ' Ut nisi pinguissimo solo coalescere non possit.'
The little feelers or feeling roots must be one with the soil.
Gemmantes oculos : cf. Cicero, De oratore, iii. 38 : ' gemmare vites,
laetas segetes etiam rustici dicunt,' ' Even rustics understood and
used such metaphors as these.' Oculos = the knob from which the
bud rises ; cf . Columel. iv, 29 : ' Interest plures oculos, quibus eger-
minet inesse.'

z operarius. 3 qui ad incrementa perducit. Cf. i Cor. iii, 7.

* sole intrante. This is a Hebraism. The Jews spoke of the
setting sun as entering (into the heavens) , and of the rising sun as
coming forth (from the East) .

236 MATTHEW XXVI, 34

end — on the Judgement Day1 — you may argue with
us about reward.2

Do not wish to claim for yourself that which
belongs to the supreme authority of God.3 For if this
is your due, then the servants who wait at the Lord's
table should claim to be thanked by His guests for the
courtesies which their Lord has rendered.4 It is the
Voice of Christ, who gives the invitation :

' Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.' 5

The nations flock to receive His grace. He, who
deigned to invite, is the giver thereof. A crowd of
His servants exercise their ministry. Thanks must
be rendered, not to those who serve, but to Him who
provides the repast. Since you are the ministers, it
is shameless in you to claim for yourselves the entire
ownership of the banquet,6 though the most blessed
Paul confesses with humility that he and the others
are servants — in order that no one may imagine that
he ought to place his hope in Apostles or Bishops alone.
On this account says the Apostle :

' For what is Paul, or what Apollo ? Surely the
ministers of Him, in whom you have believed ? ' 7

Accordingly, in all those who serve there is not
ownership but service.8 Now, therefore, my brother
Parmenian, you see that of the three elements [in

•in die retributionis. z nobiscum de mercede contender e.

Maiestatis dominium. Cf. iv. 9 : ' in Deo perennis Maiestas
exundat.'

pro humanitate exhibita. 5 Matt, xxv, 34.

totum convivii dominium. 7 I Cor. iii, 4, 5.

in universis servientibus non dominium sed ministenum.

receives
ism.

THE MERIT OF FAITH 237

Baptism] which I have mentioned above,1 the one
which is threefold 2 comes first, is immovable, is
supreme and unchangeable, but that the person of
any individual minister remains only for a time.

It remains 3 now to say something of the merit of vin.
the believer, to whom belongs the faith, which the ing the
Son of God placed before both His Sanctity and Majesty. h!mhwho
For you cannot be more holy than is Christ. When
that woman, whose daughter was dead, came to Him,
and besought that she should be restored to life, He
promised nothing of His own Power,4 but asked about
the faith of another, so that if the woman believed, her
daughter should be raised up, in view of her mother's
faith 5 ; but that if she believed not, the Power of the
Son of God would be idle, with nothing to do.6 The
woman is questioned. She replies that she believed
that what she had asked for could be accomplished.
She is ordered to depart. She returns to her house, and
finds the daughter alive whom she had left dead. She
does not rush to kisses, she does not hasten to embraces,
but returns to render thanks to the Saviour. And the
Son of God, that He might show that He had stood by,7
and that her faith alone had worked, said to her :

' O woman, depart in peace. Thy faith hath made
thee whole.' 8

1 The reference is to v, 4 : ' In hoc sacramento baptismatis
celebrando tres esse species constat.'

2 ex tribus speciebus illam primo tripartitam esse, sc. the Trinity.

3 Having discussed the part played by the Trinity and the
minister (operarius) in Baptism, something must be said of the
remaining species, the Faith of the adult recipient.

4 de virtute sua. 6 pro matris credulitate.
6 feriata cessaret. * se vacasse,

8 Luke viii, 48. St. Optatus was evidently quoting by heart,

238 THE CENTURION'S SON

What comes of your saying :

' It is of the giver, not of the receiver ' 1 ?

And what think you of the centurion's faith ?
He besought the Saviour to ward off death from his
son, when he was ill. Christ then went to the dying
boy. In such estimation did the centurion hold Him,
that he acknowledged the unworthiness of his house,
and begged that the Son of God would not enter it in
person,2 but that He should send His Power, by which
death might be put to flight, and the lad be restored
to life. It was not the valour of the centurion, nor his
wisdom that was praised, but his faith :

' And his son was cured at that hour.' 3

Of a truth it is ' of the giver,' not of him that receives ! 4
There are many things of this kind in the Gospel about
perfect faith, but we must finish the story of at least
three witnesses to Faith.5

and in consequence got strangely mixed. It is hardly necessary
to point out that no such incident as that here described is to be
found in any of the Gospels. Optatus seems to have been confusing
his recollections of Luke viii, 42-48 with Matt, viii, 5 and Luke vii,
2 seq.

1 dantis est, non accipientis was, as we have learned already,
a saying of the Donatists. By ' the giver ' they meant the Minister
of the Sacrament, one of themselves, one of the holy. St. Optatus
has already shown, in answer to their argument Nemo dat quod non
habet, that the real giver is God. He now proves that God does not
' work ' (vacat), but is always ready to give, and lets the recipient
receive according to his faith. Unless he who is to be baptised
possesses faith, God will not give the grace of Baptism, even as our
Lord on earth would not work miracles excepting on behalf of those
who believed — their faith He put before His own power.

2 totus = corporeally. 3 Matt, viii, 13.

4 This is evidently sarcasm.

5 vel tria complenda sunt fidei testimonies. Optatus often uses
vel in the sense of at least.

VIRTUE WENT OUT FROM HIM 239

What think you of that woman, who, after she
had been ill for twelve years of a hidden malady,
belonging to women, and had spent all her substance
upon doctors,1 on beholding so many wonderful works2
performed by the Son of God, went into the crowd,
saw the physician, saw also the people ? Her pain 3
urged her on to ask for medicine, shame hindered her
from disclosing, in the presence of men, the cause of
her complaint. Her silent faith told her what to do.4

' I will send forth my hand/ [she said] ' and I will
touch the hem of His garment and I shall be healed.'

When no one observed her, in the midst of the
crowd she put forth her hand. She touched and was
healed. But she did not venture to tell aloud that
for which she had not ventured to ask. However,
that the fruit of her faith might not be hidden from
those who were unaware of it, the Saviour asked :

' Who has touched Me ? '
His disciples marvelled and said :

' The crowds press on Thee, yet Thou dost ask, " Who
has touched Me ? "

and Christ asked :

' Who, I say, has touched Me ? I have felt that virtue
has gone forth from Me.'

So the woman acknowledged that she it was who
had touched Him and been healed. In the other cases
the mother had asked for her daughter, the centurion

1 Luke viii, 43-46 ; Matt, ix, 20-22 ; Mark v, 25-34.

2 tantas celebrari virtutes (cf. iv, 9).

3 dolor. * invenit consiliuwi tacita fides.

240

NAAMAN

had asked for his son. Here neither did the woman
ask, nor did Christ promise, but faith obtained all
that it anticipated.1 Without doubt ' it is of him that
gives, not of him that receives.' 2

IX. That
the ex
ample of
Naaman
the Syrian
was

brought
by Par
menian
without
relevance.

In order to add to the bulk of your treatise, you
have thought well, my brother Parmenian, to describe
Naaman the Syrian at length as some kind of unripe
mass of hardest wounds just coming to their birth.3
What has this to do with our present business ? You
might bring it forward relevantly, and might well
have employed a long discourse about it, had you

1 fides quantum praesumpsit exegit. Quantum, * so far as,' = ' all
that.' Ziwsa, however, thinks that exegit here = impetravit.

* dantis est, non accipientis. It is clear that Parmenian had
given a series of proofs, concluding at the end of each : Dantis est,
non accipientis, and Optatus ironically repeats the words. According
to the argument of St. Optatus there are three ' species ' : (a) The
Name of the Trinity by which all the grace is given ; (0) the minister
of the Sacrament, who is only instrumental — a servant ; and (-y)
the faith of the recipient, which by the ministry of ()8) impetrates
the grace from (a). Finally therefore all depends upon (7). The
Trinity is unchangeable, the minister a mere servant, but the dis
position of the recipient all-important. If, then, outside the Church
the recipient has faith the Baptism will be valid. Of course this
implies that although baptism by heretics (if administered in the
Name of the Trinity) is valid, the baptism of a heretic is invalid.
But we have to bear in mind that St. Optatus assumes (for such
had so far for the most part been the experience of the Church)
that a heretic does not believe in the Trinity or in the Catholic
Doctrine of the Incarnation (cf. note i, p. 17). His argument, so far
as it is here stated (apart from any implications), is good, but in
complete. The doctrine of character handed down by the Greek
Fathers was unknown to St. Optatus. He had no idea of character
being given without grace, nor of reviviscentia on arriving at true
and living Faith.

3 quasi immaturam quandam durissimorum nascentium vulnerum
massam.

THE SYRIAN 241

come across some catechumen of rudest morals 1 and
hardest heart, who should refuse to receive the most
gentle grace of the saving Water.2 With relevance
in that case would your words have shown how man
may be renewed 3 ; with relevance might you then
have pointed out that an inveterate 4 hardness of
nature may be changed and softened into the flesh
of an infant. But, with regard to this business,
which we are at present discussing together, to what
purpose have you recalled such a history as this 5 ?
For we do not read here 6 that anyone had washed
that leprous Syrian before the word or at the com
mand 7 of Elisha, in such a way that he might be duly
washed again to his greater advantage.8 But even if
it were so, still, it would not serve your purpose,9
as something which you might lawfully imitate. For
we do not read that he had first washed in the waters
of Syria, or that he had been washed by anyone,
without gaining thereby any advantage. But if it
had been so, this would not appertain to the praise
of Elisha (who did not wash him, but gave him
advice) ; rather would it redound to the glory of the
Jordan that the first 10 grace came to the Syrian n — in
that river wherein afterwards, in the time of John,

1 scabrosissimis movibus.

2 qui lenissimam gratiam aquae salutaris accipeve detvactavet.
hominis innovationem.

veternosam. Cf . ' vetus, vietus, veternosus senex ' : Ter.
Eun. iv, 4, 21.

talis commemorata est lectio. 6 Cf. 4 Reg. v.

iussione. Casaubon reads with G ante . . . iussionem.
ut merito denuo melius lavaretur.
9 nee sic vobis occurreret,
10 primitivam, u illi homini.

242 THE MARRIAGE FEAST

through confession unto repentance, the sins of a
multitude J were to die.

Parlbie Lastly what is to be said with regard to that part

of the of your treatise concerning the heavenly nuptials,

Marriage , . , , , . , . f , ft •

Feast was in which — taking away hope of future things — you

broufit have applied it all to the present time, saying that

b°rpar? ke, who escaped your doorkeepers and ministers,2

menian. has been cut off from your fellowship, in such a way

as to be cast outside,3 with contumely, far from

the communion of the Faithful ? If the parable

mean this,4 nothing is left for faith to hope, nothing

for the resurrection to restore,5 nothing further in

heaven to be awaited, nothing 6 for God, the King 7

and Father of the Family, to recognise at His own

Banquet, when He shall rejoice over the presence of

many and grieve over the absence of some,8 and shall

say that many have been called, but few chosen.9

1 populoYum peccata. This use of populi = multitude is not
uncommon in Optatus.

qui ianitores et ministros fefellerit vestvos.

foras. 4 si ita est.

quod resurrectio repraesentet.

sc. the Wedding Garment.

Casaubon supplies the word caelestis after Rex, but since the
word Deus follows, caelestis (which is not in the MSS.) hardly seems
necessary.

8 praesentta multorum gaudeat et de aliquorum absentia contristetur.
aliquorum, i.e. the Donatists. Optatus on several occasions already
has spoken of God grieving (cf . i, 2 bis ; ii, 24 ; ii, 26 ; iii, 2 ' Deus
dolet'). Here he represents Him as grieving over the absence of
those first called, and rejoicing over the presence of others from
the byways and hedges. St. Optatus evidently leaves the oppo
sition between his praesentia multorum and the pauci electi without
noticing it.

9 Cf. Matt, xxii, 14.

THE WEDDING GARMENT 243

In that case there will be no occasion for Him to
be wrath with the man who is without the Wedding
Garment.

For the Son of God, Christ Himself, is the Bride
groom ; He is also the Garment and the Tunic, that
floats in the water, to clothe many,1 yet awaits others
innumerable 2 and is never used up.3

And before anyone say that I have been rash in
calling the Son of God the Garment, let him read the
words of the Apostle who says :

' As many of you as have been baptised in the Name
of Christ, have put on Christ.'4

O tunic ever one and unchangeable, which fitly5
clothes all ages and forms, which is not too loose 6
in infants, nor stretched in youth, nor changed in
women !

Assuredly the day will come, when the heavenly
nuptials begin to be celebrated. There without
anxiety shall they sit down, who have preserved

1 cum Filius Dei Ipse Christus sit Sponsus et vesiis et tunica
natans in aqua, quae multos vestiat. Casaubon has suggested
natos in aqua for natans in aqua. If this suggestion be adopted,
we translate ' and the Tunic, wherewith He may clothe many
who are born in the water (the baptised).' This, however, has no
MS. authority, and is quite unnecessary. The spiritual garment
of grace is Christ, whom the baptised ' puts on ' (induit), as the water
flows over him. But St. Optatus will not identify Christ with the
water — so He is the Grace in the water — a spiritual garment
invisibly ' floating in the water,' which clothes the baptised, as the
water covers him. It is a very beautiful idea. There seems to be
no reference here to the lxMs. (Still cf. iii, 2: 'Hie est piscis,
qui in baptismate per invocationem fontalibus undis inseritur.')

2 infinites. a nec vestiendo deficiat.
4 Gal. iii, 27. 6 decenter.

6 nec rugatur. Literally ' is not wrinkled.'

244 SIN AGAINST THE ONE BAPTISM

the one Baptism.1 For with regard to any who has
allowed himself to be rebaptised by you — resurrection
is not denied him, for he has believed in the resurrection
of the Flesh.2 He shall rise indeed, but naked. But
because he has allowed you to spoil him of his wedding
garment, he shall hear the Father of the Family
speak thus :

' My friend,' that is to say — ' I recognise thee — once
thou didst renounce the devil, and wert converted to Me,
and I gave thee a wedding garment. Why hast thou come
thus, without that which I gave thee ? ' — that is to say,
' why hast thou not what I gave thee ? '

For no one can be angry with one who has not
something, which has not been given him.

' Thou didst receive a wedding garment, together with
these others, and thou alone art without one. Why hast
thou come naked and doleful 3 ? Who has torn his spoils
from thee ? What thieves' doors hast thou entered 4 ?
What murderous robbers B hast thou met on the way ? '

However many they are who come thus, they shall
have no place at that banquet.6

1 qui baptisma singulare servaverint.

2 Is it the case that this strange sentence shows that St. Optatus
was a Chiliast ? It is quite possible that the text as we have it is
corrupt; however, the view that St. Optatus held Millennarian
tenets in some form or other is at least plausible. We know that,
though St. Augustine abandoned Chiliasm, he would by no means
have held that its repudiation, even in his time, was a matter of
obligation.

3 nudus et lugubris. * quas fraudulentas adisti fauces ?
6 quos latrones ? (cf. i, 19).

8 All the MSS. finish this Book at this point.

A CHALLENGE 245

And to make an end, however late,1 I think that xi.
even this is enough. Still, although we may be making Donatists
a mistake in bringing forward so many proofs, let me reblpt?s°e
give this one more. Let us suppose that, in your ^JJf^g
absence, a thousand have been baptised. Of these d^ad» why
say that a hundred have chanced to die. For a little they re-
while keep your hands off this wickedness.2 Let the ls
your ' holiness ' (as you call it) first raise again those lmng ?
who have been buried, let it cleanse the dead if it can,
and let them be brought back to the living.3 If you
are not able to raise the dead, to what purpose do
you endeavour to lay hands upon the living, excepting
to fulfil that which God spoke of you through the
Prophet Ezekiel,4 saying :

' that they might kill souls, which ought not to die ' ?

1 This chapter is to be found in G at the end of Chapter viii.
Though not to be found in RBv, Du Pin thinks on intrinsic grounds
that it was written by Optatus, but that it has been dislocated in
position. He placed it (and in this Ziwsa follows him) here, at the
end of the Book. The words with which the passage begins
(Et ut vel sero compendium faciam, credo etiam hoc sufficere etc.)
undoubtedly seem to point to this transposition. It is possible that
St. Optatus placed it in his first edition and deliberately omitted it
in his second. It is certainly very poor and not worthy of the
book or of its argument.

2 sc. of rebaptising.

3 If the holiness of the Donatists was great enough, as they
claimed, to give the grace of Baptism — the life of the soul, it ought
to suffice to restore the life of the body. According to Catholic
doctrine God gives the life of the soul in Baptism, but God can also,
if it so please Him, raise the dead to renewed earthly life.

4 Ez. xiii, 19.

BOOK THE SIXTH

IN THIS BOOK IT is SHOWN THAT THE DONATIST BISHOPS
WICKEDLY DESTROYED ALTARS, THAT THEY SOLD
THE HOLY VESSELS, AND WITHOUT WARRANT
STRIPPED NUNS OF THEIR VEILS.

wicked- YoUR wicked actions with regard to the Divine Sacra-
t£SDona- ments 1 have— so it seems to me— been clearly shown
breakfe UP' * now ^ave to Describe things done by you, as you
orscrapfng yourselves will not be able to deny, with cruelty and
folly. For what so sacrilegious as to break, to scrape,
to take away altars of God, upon which you too once
offered sacrifice,2 upon which were laid both the
prayers of the people, and the Members of Christ,3
where Almighty God was called upon, where the
Holy Spirit descended in answer to prayer, from
which many have received the pledge of everlast
ing salvation, and the safeguard of faith, and the
hope of resurrection ? Altars, I say, upon which
the Saviour forbade the gifts of the brotherhood 4
to be laid, unless they should be seasoned with
peace.5

1 in divinis Sacramentis quid nefarie feceritis.

2 in quibus et vos obtulistis.

3 in quibus et vota populi et Membra Christi portata sunt,

4 fraternitatis munera. 8 de pace condita.

THE CHRISTIAN ALTAR 247

' Lay down/ He said, ' thy gift before the altar,1
and go back, agree with thy brother, that the priest may
be able to offer on thy behalf.' 2

For what is an altar excepting the seat of both
the Body and the Blood of Christ ? 3

All these altars you, in your madness, have either
scraped, or broken, or taken away. Whatever reason
you may have had prompting you to this wickedness
(for which no atonement is possible), it should have
been done in the same way [everywhere]. But in
one place, the abundance of wood it was (as I think)
that led to the altars being broken up, in other places
the lack of timber caused them to be scraped, whilst
yet again elsewhere it was partly the sense of shame,
which induced men to take them away. But in each
case a disgraceful wickedness was committed when you
laid sacrilegious and impious hands upon so great
a Thing.4

Why should I mention the hired mob of abandoned
wretches, and the wine that was given as the pay of
crime ? 5 — the wine, for which a fire was made out of

1 Matt, v, 24.

2 This is the most extraordinary instance of St. Optatus' habit
of quoting the Scriptures from memory. That he should, however,
have added the words ' ut possit pro te sacerdos offerre ' and applied
them to the Christian priest and sacrifice shows how unquestioned
at the time was the Catholic doctrine on the Mystery of the altar.
Had it been otherwise, he would necessarily have been more careful.
No one can imagine that such carelessness would be possible at any
period when the doctrine of the Eucharistic Sacrifice was questioned
amongst Christians.

3 Quidestenim altare nisi sedes et Corporis et Sanguinis Chnsti?

4 tantae rei, sc. the altar of God.

6 quid perditorum conductam refer am multitudinem et vinum in
mercedem sceleris datum ?

248 DONATIST

the broken remnants of the altars, that unclean lips
might drink it [hot] with sacrilegious draughts ? l If
in your jaundiced judgement we seemed to you to be
corrupt,2 what harm had God done you, God, who
at those altars 3 was once habitually invoked ? In
what way had Christ offended you, whose Body and
Blood were wont during determinate times there to
dwell 4 ? In what way had you yourselves even offended
yourselves, that you should break down those altars,
upon which before us you had (as you think, with
sanctity) offered sacrifice for long periods of time ?
In impiously attacking our hands there, where the
Body of Christ used to dwell,5 you have also smitten
your own.6

By thus acting you have imitated the Jews.
They laid hands upon Christ on the cross ; you have
struck Him upon the altar.7 If you wished to attack
Catholics at these altars, there 8 you might have
spared at least your own former sacrifices.9

Thy 10 pride has now been manifested in that place

1 quod ut immundo ore sacrilegis haustibus biberetur, calida de
fragments altarium fact a est.

2 sordidi. 3 illic.

4 cuius illic per certa momenta Corpus et Sanguis habitabat.
6 dum impie persequimini manus nostras, illic , ubi Corpus Christi
habitabat.

6 feristis et vestras. The Donatist excuse for sacrilegiously
destroying the altars was that Mass had been celebrated there by
the hands of Catholics (Betrayers, as they called them) ; but Mass
had been celebrated at those same altars by their own hands as well.

7 hoc modo ludaeos estis imitati ; illi iniecerunt Christo manus
in cruce, a vobis percussus est in altari.

8 illic. 9 vel vestris antiquis oblationibus .

10 St. Optatus now, using the singular number, addresses
Parmenian personally.

SACRILEGES 249

where formerly them didst offer sacrifice with humility,
there thou dost freely sin, where once thou wert
accustomed to pray on behalf of the sins of many.
After this fashion you 1 have, of your own accord,
entered into the company of sacrilegious priests, and
are associated with the crimes of wicked men, concern
ing whom Elijah the prophet makes his plaint before the
Lord. For he has used these words (with which you
too, amongst others, have deserved to be accused by
him) :

' 0 Lord/ he says, ' they have broken down Thine
altars.' 2

When he says ' Thine/ he shows that the [altar]
where any offering has been made to God by anyone
whomsoever, belongs to God.3

It might have satisfied your madness, to have
wounded the members of the Church, and to have
divided by your beguilements the peoples of God,
who were formerly placed in unity. Amongst all
your other proceedings, you might at least have spared
the altars. Why did you break, together with the
altars themselves, the entreaties and longings of
men ? 4 For from them the people's prayer was
wont to go up to the ears of God. Why did you
cut to pieces the road of their prayers to Him ? 5
With impious hands you have laboured in a sort of

1 St. Optatus here suddenly reverts from the singular to the
plural number — apparently from Parmenian in particular to the
Donatists in general.

2 3 Kings xix, 10. 3 res est Dei.

4 cur vota et desideria hominum cum ipsis altaribus confregistis ?

5 cur concidistis precibus viam ?

250 DONATIST

fashion to draw away the ladder,1 that you might
prevent supplication ascending in the accustomed
way to God.

And though all of you shared in one conspiracy,
still, in this matter, whilst your wrongdoing was the
same, you carried it out by different methods.

If it was sufficient to move, it was not lawful
to break ; if it was right to break, it is a sin to have
scraped. For if, as your assembly decreed, it was not
lawful [to preserve the altars], that man who broke
them up would seem to have acted rightly. In that
case he is guilty who, by scraping, preserved the
larger part of them.

What is this new and foolish wisdom of yours to
seek for that which is new in the very heart of that
which is old 3 ? It is as though, after having removed
some skin from the body, you were to look, as it
were, for a second skin in that part of the body which
lay hid under the part which you had cut away.3
The gift 4 which is proper to itself and, by reason of

1 In this chapter St. Optatus calls the altar successively : ' That
which carries the prayers of the people and the members of Christ,'
' the place of the gifts of the brotherhood,' ' the seat of both the
Body and Blood of Christ,' ' the dwelling-place during fixed periods
of the Body and Blood of Christ,' ' the dwelling place of the Body
of Christ,' ' the possession of God,' ' the place whence the prayer of
the people was wont to go up to the ears of God,1 ' the Way,' and
' the Ladder ' to God.

2 novitatem quaerere in visceribus vetustatis. It has been
suggested to read maiestatis instead of vetustatis. But this supposed
emendation takes away the contrast with novitatem and the whole
point of the analogy, which is sufficiently explained by that which
follows immediately.

3 in latenti corpore cutem quasi alter am quaerere.

4 donum, sc. consecrationis.

INCONSISTENCY 251

its unity,1 is a whole in itself, may, after something
has been taken from it, be lessened. Changed it
cannot be. You have, it is true, scraped what seemed
good to you, but what you hate is still there ! Again,
even though you have agreed,2 that whatever has
been touched by us in the Name of God in His actual
service,3 should be deemed by you to be unclean,
which of the Faithful is there who is unaware that
during the celebration of the Mysteries, the wood of
the altar is itself covered with linen 4 ? During the
sacred rites themselves,5 the covering can be touched,
not the wood. Or, if the veils can be penetrated by
the touch, then so can the wood ; and, if the wood
can be penetrated, then so can the earth. If you
scrape the wood, you should also dig up the earth
which is underneath, you should make a deep hole,
whilst you are searching after that which you are
pleased to judge to be purity.6 But take care lest
you go down to those below,7 there to find Korah,
Dathan and Abiram, the schismatics — your masters.
It is, then, well known that you have both broken
and scraped altars. How is it that in this matter
your madness seems to have presently somewhat
cooled down 8 ? For we see that afterwards you
changed your plan, and that the altars were now no
longer either broken or scraped by you, but only

1 quod unum est. The gift of consecration is bestowed upon the
altar as a whole, and in it all its parts. It possesses a unity which
may be likened to that of the Church.

2 quodsi sic coniurastis. 3 in ipso ministerio.

4 linteamine. B inter ipsa sacramenta.

6 dum pro vestro arbitrio quaeritis puritatem, 7 ad infer os.

8 quasi languere.

252 DONATIST

moved. If this was enough, then you yourselves
prove that what you did at first should by no means
have been done.

ii. But when you broke the very Chalices, which

Donatists carry the Blood of Christ,1 you committed two horrible

legfousiy sins.2 For you have melted them down, thus making

sowkethed money f°r yourselves by abominable bargains.3 Nor

chalices, in this business did you even trouble to select the

purchasers, ; but were guilty of sacrilege in selling

indiscriminately,4 and of avarice in selling at all.

You also suffered 5 your own hands to be burned,

with which you were accustomed, before us, to handle

these same Chalices.6 Still you ordered the sale to

take place everywhere. Perhaps wanton women

1 Christi Sanguinis portatores (RB porti tores).

2 hoc tamen inmane f acinus a vobis geminatum est.

3 quorum species revocastis in massas, merces nefariis nundinis
procur antes.

4 inconsiderate = passim.

5 passi estis. Casaubon conjectures passi essetis = in your
avarice you would even have suffered.

6 This is simply a sarcastic retort. Albaspinaeus and Du Pin
find here a mysterious identification between the chalices and the
hands of the priests who used them. When the chalices were
melted down, so metaphorically were the hands of the priests who
had touched them. In so far as this was true, it held good not of
Catholics only, but also of Donatists who had said Mass at the same
altars with the same chalices. It seems however to me that the
thought of St. Optatus may be expressed more simply. If the
Donatists imagined that by burning the chalices which they con
sidered to have been polluted through the touch of Catholic priests,
they were burning away that touch — in the concrete, those hands —
they should remember that at the same time they were burning away
their own touch — their own hands — for they too had touched the
chalices which they burned . The drift of the argument is sufficiently
clear, but to us it must seem laboured and far-fetched (cf . note 4,
P- 255)-

AVARICE 253

bought them for their own purposes ; Pagans bought
them, so that from them they might manufacture
vessels, in which to burn incense to their idols. O
shameful wickedness ! O unheard-of crime ! To take
away something from God, that you might give it to
idols—to steal something from Christ, that it might
serve for a sacrilege.

But I perceive that, in this matter, in order to
stir up undeserved hatred against us, you wish to
have recourse to the book of the Prophet Haggai,
where it has been written : pretext

that the

' Those things which have been touched by the defiled
have been defiled.' x vessels

had been

For those who are in anger, it is easy whilst the anger nated™'
lasts to hurl abuse, but whenever an accusation is ^fh
made, some clear proof is necessary. used by

,,,, ,. Catholics.

Who then amongst us has ever entered the temples
of idols ? Who has watched the sacrilegious sacrifices ?
Men may be defiled by incense,2 odours,3 sacrileges,
sacrifices, blood.4 But in this matter between us,
who has entered the temple ? Who has burnt incense
to idols ? Who has been stained by unclean odours 5 ?
Who has looked upon the blood of an unclean beast,
or of a man, poured forth ? Whom can you prove
to have given his advice for the perpetration of any

1 Hagg. ii, 14. 2 fumis.

3 nidoribus (cf . infra ' immundis nidoribus ' and iii, 8 : ' immundis
arae fumabant nidoribus ').

4 futnis, nidoribus, sacrilegiis, sacrificiis, sanguine. Casaubon
thinks that Optatus wrote fumi sacrilegis nidoribus, sacrilego
sacrificii sanguine,

5 immundis nidoribus.

254 DONATIST

evil deed ? Prove — if you can — that even one Bishop
has been mixed up with any wrongdoing. You have
your suspicions, about some Primate or other, who
was at that time reported to have faltered.1 Sus
picion is not a sufficient ground for accusation.2
Who has charged him ? Who has convicted him ?
On what occasion was he ever ashamed, or put out
of countenance ? 3 Keep your suspicions to your
selves.4

So, as we have said above, if in this matter any
thing was done with severity,5 we have shown, when
it is looked at in its commencement, that your fathers
are responsible. Why then do you speak of Catholics,
as though they were denied ? Is it because we have
followed the Will and Command of God by loving
peace, by communicating with the whole world, in
union with those who live in the East, where Christ
was born, where His holy footsteps touched the
ground, where His adorable Feet have walked, where
so many and such great miracles were worked by the
Son of God Himself, where so many Apostles
accompanied Him, where is the Sevenfold Church,6
on having been cut off from which, you do not merely
fail to grieve, but in a sort of way rejoice ? You call
us denied, because we have loved Unity well-
pleasing to God. Because we have agreed with and
hold communion with the Corinthians, Galatians,

1 ambulare ( = ire opposite of stare).

2 suspicio non est idoneum crimen.

3 ubi vel erubuit vel confusus est ?

* sew ate vobis suspiciones vestras. 5 id est, by Macarius.
6 Septiformis Ecclesia. The Seven Churches of Asia which
(mystically) were interpreted as the whole. (Cf. note 2, p. 79.)

SUSPICIONS 255

Thessalonians, you call us denied. You call us denied,
because we have not, together with you, read corrupt l
books — deny, if you can, that you read books which
differ [from those of the Church].2 How do you
venture to read the Epistles written to the Corinthians,
you who have refused to communicate with the
Corinthians ? To what purpose do you read aloud
that which was written to Galatians or to Thessalonians,
with whom you are not in communion ? 3

Since it is certain that all these things are so,
understand that you have been cut off from the holy
Church, and that we are not denied. What ground,
therefore, have you for thinking that the prophet
Haggai can be of any help to you ?

The altars, then, and the sacred vessels, which we
have mentioned above, were formerly in both your
hands and ours. If you slander our hands, why
at those altars 4 condemn your own hands as well ?

But you say that you have read :

' That, which one, who is denied, has touched, is defiled.' 5

Suppose that anyone has been defiled, so that

1 furtivas lectiones = falsified versions of Holy Scripture.

2 alienas lectiones. If the Donatists denied that they used
corrupt versions, at least (writes St. Optatus) they will not be able
to deny that they use alienas lectiones. Ziwsa writes that alienas
here = diversas, and so I have translated it. But may it not mean
books to which, as schismatics, you have no right ? (Cf. ii, 6 : Extra
septem Ecclesias quicquid foris est, alienum est.)

3 St. Augustine (Ep. clxv) also uses this argument : ' Quid autem
perversius et insanius quam lectoribus easdem epistulas legentibus
dicere, Pax tecum, et ab earum Ecclesiarum Pace separari, quibus
ipsae epistulae scriptae sunt ? '

* si infamatis manus nostras, quare illic damnatis et vestras ?
Cf. note 6, p. 252. 6 Hagg. ii, 14.

256 INVOCATION OF THE NAME OF GOD

the things which he has touched appear to be defiled —
let it be granted, if there has only been the touch,
that the things which the defiled has touched, with
out any invocation of the Name of God, may be
contaminated — provided that silence has been kept
about God. For if there be invocation of the Name
of God, the invocation itself sanctifies even that
which appeared to have been defiled. Thus when
two hundred and fifty censers, which had been carried
in the hands of sinners, remained cast away (after
those sinners were swallowed up by the earth), as
the Holy priest Aaron hesitated what to do about
them, he heard the Voice of God, saying :

' Take up, O Aaron, these censers, and make plates of
them and fasten them in the corners of the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord, because, though those who carried
them have sinned, nevertheless these vessels are holy, for
My Name has been invoked with them, saith God.' l

And surely to carry is more than to touch. There
fore it is quite clear that a thing can be made holy
by the invocation of the Name of God, even though
it be a sinner who invokes God. For the touch cannot
have as much efficacy, as has the invocation of God's
Name. And do you too, who count on your own
sanctity, tell us whether the touch makes holy or
the invocation. Surely it is the invocation not the
touch. Otherwise if you rely upon the touch alone,
touch a board, a stone, a garment — and let us see
whether (if silence be kept about God) they can be
sanctified.

1 Cf< Num. xvi, 37, 38.

VIRGINITY

257

state.

Now consider what a foolish — what an empty iv. That
thing it is for you to have exercised your will and cS-s
your sham authority1 by making God's virgins2 God^e
learn to do Penance, so that they who had already }^Jng"
made their Profession had afterwards by your orders stripped
to change the signs of their choice upon their heads,3 Donatists
and were compelled to cast away their veils, and to ornaments
receive others in their place.4 First tell us where Ser to
there is any commandment that has been given
concerning veils. For virginity is a matter of choice,5
not of necessity.

So Paul the Apostle, that famous innkeeper,6 to
whose care was entrusted a people wounded with the
wounds of their sins, had received two pence to lay
out— that is, the two Testaments. These he, as it
were, expended by his teaching, and taught how
Christian husbands and wives ought to live ; but,
when he was asked what command he would give
concerning virgins, he answered that nothing about

1 quasi dignitatem vestram.

2 Nuns who had deserted the Catholic Church for the Donatist
schism.

3 ut iamdudum professae signa voluntatis capitibus . . .
immutarent. Casaubon thinks that there should be a comma after
professae, and conjectures that the word imposita has fallen out after
capitibus. He remarks that the words profiteri and professae were
already quite common, but that he knows no other instance of the
phrase capite profiteri signa voluntatis, whereas Optatus proceeds
very soon to write of veils capiti impositae. But signa voluntatis
for veils sounds quite Optatian. The word signum for a Nun's
veil is traditional in the Church. Thus the consecrated virgin on
receiving the veil is bidden by the Pontifical straightway to stand
up and to sing ' Posuit signum in faciem meam.'

4 ut mitellas alias proicerent et alias accepissent. For the first
alias RBv read aureas.

5 voluntatis. o stabularius ille.

258 THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

virginity had been commanded. He acknowledged
that he had laid out the two Testaments, that is the
two pence. In a certain way the commission was
exhausted, but, inasmuch as Christ, who had entrusted
the wounded man to his keeping, had promised that
He would repay whatsoever over and above might
be expended upon his care,,1 Paul, after having laid
out the two pence, gives not commandments, but a
counsel with regard to virginity. He does not stand
in the way of those who desire it,2 but neither does
he drive or force those who desire it not.3

' He who has given his virgin, does well, and he who
has not given her, does better/ 4

These are words of counsel, nor are any precepts
joined to them, neither as to the kind of wool from
which the veil should be made, nor with what sort of
purple dye it should be stained. For virginity cannot
be aided with this kind of garment,5 nor with it are
quenched the heats of the soul,6 which sometimes are
enkindled by the summer,7 nor by it is the mind

1 quicquid in curam amplius erogasset. As St. Optatus under
stands by the two pence of the parable the two Testaments, i.e. the
Commandments of God, so by ' whatever thou shalt spend over
and above ' (Luke x, 35) he understands works of supererogation,
v.g. the Counsels of Perfection.

2 nee impedimenta est volentibus.

3 This passage, from ' For virginity is a matter of choice ' to
' who desire it not/ is incorporated, as it stands, by St. Fulgentius.
(Cf. ii, ad Monimum, cap. 13.)

4 Cf. i Cor. vii, 25-38. 5 hoc panno.

6 aestus animi.

7 aestas, so Rv. G has aetas. This is adopted by Ziwsa, but
is it not possible that Optatus used aestas metaphorically in juxta
position with aestus (summer heats) just before, according to his
custom of playing upon words ?

AND THE COUNSELS OF PERFECTION 259

relieved, which from time to time is pressed down by
the burdens of desires. For if it were otherwise, not
one veil, but very many, would be placed on the
virgin's head, that, whensoever the desires of the
flesh should trouble1 the soul, the number of veils
might fight against the stings of the mind.2 The
veil was thought of as a sign for the head, not as a
remedy on behalf of chastity. So a garment of this
kind may get old, and be gnawed through and worn
out ; and yet virginity, as long as it has suffered no
damage, can be safe without a veil.

This kind of life 3 is a kind of spiritual marriage.
They had already come to the nuptials of their Spouse
by their choice and Profession ; and had already
loosed their hair,4 thus to show that they had given
up worldly nuptials, and were joined to their spiritual
Spouse. They had already celebrated heavenly
nuptials. For what reason have you forced them to
loose their hair a second time ? For what reason is
it, I say, that you have exacted of them a second
Profession ? Who is the second spiritual spouse
whom they may wed a second time ? When did He
die, to whom they had been wedded, that they may
marry again ? You have laid heads once more bare,
which had already received the veil. You have
stripped them of the marks 5 of their Profession,
which seem to have been introduced as a protection

1 pungerent. 2 impugnationem mentis.

3 hoc genus, sc. voluntary profession of virginity.

4 Nuns, like married women, of old ' put up ' their hair. It
was not, as now, cut off.

5 indicia.

s 2

260 DONATISTS ROBBED

against abductors or suitors.1 The veil is a sign of
their free choice — not an aid to chastity 2 — lest
the suitor should either continue to sue for, or the
abductor dare to violate, that which had already been
consecrated to God.

The veil, accordingly, is a sign, not a sacrament.
You have then found virgins of this kind, who had
already been wedded spiritually — these you forced
to second nuptials, and ordered once more to loose
their hair.

This is not suffered even by those women who
enter upon a natural marriage.3 For if it should
have chanced to any one of them to change her
husband,4 after widowhood has befallen her, the
great secular festivity is not repeated ; she is not
puffed up to the skies ; there is no great assemblage
of people provided. Therefore, you have not taken
away ornaments from their heads, but (as we have
said above) the proofs of the choice of the better
part. You have sprinkled the hair, which had been
already consecrated to God, with unclean ashes.5
You even gave orders that they should be washed
with salt water.

And would that you had quickly restored that
which you had taken away. You lengthened out
delays, so that some who were dragged back to [the
world] remained a long time in their original dress,
after you had removed the outward signs, with which
they had fortified themselves against suitors and

1 raptores aut petitores. 2 non castitatis auxilium.

3 quae carnaliter nubunt. * maritum mutare.

5 sc. the ashes of Penance, inflicted by the Donatists.

NUNS OF THEIR VEILS 261

abductors. For when men saw that you had removed
the barrier which formerly stood in their way, instead
of suitors they became abductors. Nor did anyone
seem to himself to have sinned, in carrying off one
who was such as he had seen her to be, at the time
when he was looking for a wife.1

In this business how great were the injuries that v. That
you did to God, how great were the gains that you books °and
won for the Devil. You impiously melted down
Chalices, you savagely 2 broke and foolishly 3 scraped
altars, you forced wretched maidens (not without forcibly
disgrace) to take a second veil, although nothing can Catholics
be read in Scripture 4 about the first. And I cannot Donatists.
pass over a thing, which neither is pleasing to God,
nor can be excused by your adherents, nor be defended
by any man. You judged that by civil courts 5 and
public laws the books of the Divine Law should,
through the action of officials,6 be torn away from
very many, wishing to have for themselves alone that
which before the schism the Church had held for all
in common.7 I do not fear, as a Christian, to state
a fact of which, through your accusations, the pagan
officers could not be unaware.8 You seized with

1 dum talem rapuit, qualem viderat, quando, ut uxorem acciperet,
postulabat.

2 crudeliteY. 3 inconsulte. * in lectione.

5 per indicia saecularia. Under Julian the Apostate the churches
and sacred books were taken from the Catholics and given to the
Donatists by imperial decree and process of law.

6 executione officiorum. ' Officia pro officialibus, ut ministeria pro
ministris et sexcenta huius generis ' (Casaubon) .

7 quod Pax in commune possederat.

9 quod vobis postulantibus gentilis executio non potuit ignorare.
Ziwsa points out that postulare here ~ criminan (cf . iii, 3 : ' postula-
banl utique contra episcopos ') .

262

DONATIST SACRILEGE

VI. The
folly of
the Dona-
tists in
washing
the walls.

violence the altar cloths and books belonging to the
Lord,1 which formerly had been possessed in common.
You also seized the palls 2 and the manuscripts. In
your proud judgement you thought that in each case
they had been denied. If I mistake not, you made
haste to purify all these things. Without doubt
you washed the palls. Tell us what you did with the
manuscripts. If you are to act wisely you must
pass the same judgement in all things. Either wash
both, or leave both alone. If you act differently,
you will have tainted your own efforts.3 The pall
you wash ; the manuscript you wash not. If you
do well on one side, you do evil on the other. You
are unable to deny that you give scandal on the one
hand, if you do well on the other ; and if you rejoice
to seem full of respect for religion 4 in one matter,
you ought also to bewail that you are held to be
guilty of sacrilege in the other.

Now, what kind of thing have you done when
you determined in many places to have even the
walls washed,5 and ordered the whole interior 6 to be
sprinkled with salt water ? 7

1 velamina et instrument** dominica extortistis . For velamina
Cochlaeus suggested volumina — a suggestion adopted by Casaubon.

2 p alias. Casaubon thinks that pallas has crept in for pallia
and quotes Victor Uticensis, who has written of velaminum pallia
and of pallia altaris. But Pope Innocent I (De Mysteriis Missae, ii,
55) writes : ' Duplex est palla quae dicitur corporalis ; una quam
Diaconus super altare totum extendit, altera, quam super calicem
plicatam imponit.'

3 corrupisti diligentiam tuam. RB concupisti. 4 veligiosus.

5 sc. of churches that had been used by Catholics.

6 inclusa spatia aqua salsa spargi praecepistis. For inclusa
RBv read in caussa, Cochlaeus conjectured sine caussa.

7 St. Optatus could not have written in the strain of the next
paragraph, had he known anything of the later usage of mixing

AND FOLLY 263

O Water, which by God wert created sweet, over
which the Holy Spirit was borne before the very
birth of the world ! l O Water, which, that thou
mightest make the land pure, hast washed the earth !
O Water, which, in the days of Moses, after thou
hadst been sweetened by wood,2 so that thou mightest
lose the bitterness that is natural to thee, didst satiate
by thy most sweet draughts the hearts of so many
people 3 ! It has remained for thee, after so high an
office, to receive no slight degradation ! 4 In the
presence of Moses bitterness dies in thee, and to-day
thy sweetness, together with the Catholic people,
is harassed by schismatics.5 Together we suffer the
conflict, together we look for the vengeance of God.6

Tell us, my brother Parmenian, what injury the
place had done you, what injury the very walls that
they should surfer such things as these at your hands ?
Is it because within them God was entreated ? Or,
that there Christ was praised ? Or, that there was
invoked the Holy Ghost ? Or, that there, though you
were absent, the books of the Prophets and the Holy
Gospels were read aloud ? Or, that there the minds
of brethren, who had once been at strife, had been
brought into harmony ? Or, that unity, well pleasing
to God, had found there a house, wherein to dwell ?

salt with water, to make Holy Water ; much less had he known of
the salt, water, ashes and wine prescribed, for certain purifications,
in the Pontifical.

1 Cf. Gen. i, 2.

2 indulcata ligno. Indulcare = y\vKalveiv. Cf. Martius ' Pru-
denter edulcare convenit vitam.'

3 tot populorum pectora suavissimis haustibus satiasti. (Cf.
Ex. xv, 23, 25.)

4 restabat tibi post promotionem non leviter degradari.

5 a scismaticis hodie cum Catholicorum turba dulcedo tua vexatur.
0 pares patimur bellum, pares expectamus vindicem Deum.

264 DONATIST CUNNING

Point out to us what it is that you have found to wash.
If it be the footsteps of Catholics — we have trodden
both street and square1 — why do you not cleanse
them all ? 2 For you and we, in order to care for our
bodies, have cleansed them in the same baths, and
many of ours have often used them before you. If
you think that everything should be purified after
us — wash the water also, if you can. Or, if, as we
have just said, our footsteps seem to you to be defiled,
it might be enough to wash the earth. Why, then,
have you thought fit to wash the walls also, on which
the footsteps of men cannot be placed ? We could
not tread the walls, but have only been able to see
them. But if you think that what has been touched
even by our looks should be washed, why have you
left other things unwashed ? We see the roof ; we
also see the heavens. They cannot be washed by
you ! Have you deserved well of God by washing the
one ? , In that case you would seem to have committed
a sin, for which there is no expiation, in not washing
the other. As, then, you wish to appear full of a
sort of diligence in one quarter, you have been found
to have been negligent in another. Your diligence,
however, should be termed folly, or — to call it by
its true name — vanity — unless, indeed, in thus acting
you have perhaps inspired the uneducated populace
with terror, making them think that, since the pillar
in the church has been washed, so also should be
their bodies.3 If you have had this cunning design,

1 et in vico et in platea, CG plateis.

- quare non omnia emendatis ? (evnendave = rebaptisare '. i, 5
' post vos non emendamus ' ; v, 1 1 ' Sanctitas vestra emendet, si potest,
mortuos.' Cf . iii, 10 : ' emendate voluntatem Dei, si potestis.')

8 sc. by Rebaptism.

AND WAR AGAINST THE DEAD 265

you have craftily deceived the wretched people ;
if you have acted as you have done without thought,
then your dulness x has been exposed. Those whom
you have led astray know that your conduct in these
matters has been stupid,2 and this you will not
yourselves be able to deny.

Why should I also mention that great act of vn.

, That the

irreverence which arose from your conspiracy to Donatists
seize the temples for this purpose,3 that you might aglinstven
claim the cemeteries for yourselves alone, and not the dead-
permit the bodies of Catholics to be buried ? To
terrify the living, you do wrong even to the dead and
refuse them a place for their funeral rites. If you
had been at war with them whilst they were living,
at least the death of your foe might appease your
hatreds. Now that man is silent, with whom a
moment ago you were in conflict, why insult his
obsequies ? Why interfere with his burial ? To what
purpose do you enter into strife with the dead ?
You have lost the fruit of your malice.4 And if you
are not willing that bodies should rest together,5 you
will not be able to separate their souls, set together 6
before God.

To make an end — it is impossible fully to narrate

Donatists
1 vestra hebetudo. 2 haec vos stulte fecisse. compared

3 Even in places where the Donatists had a church of their own, catchers.
they were empowered by the Edict of Julian to seize the church of

the Catholics. St. Optatus here suggests that they did this in order
to deprive Catholics of the privilege of burial amongst their fellow
Catholics in the cemeteries which were attached to every Catholic
church.

4 perdidisti malitiae fructum.

266 THE DONATISTS RESEMBLE

all the evil things that you have done ; but we may
take them for granted in you, who are the leaders of
this wrongdoing. Still who could keep silence about
those who are now yours — those, that is, whom you
have succeeded in drawing to your faction either by
party-spirit or by subtle craft 1 — not only men, but
also women ? From sheep they have been suddenly
made wolves, from being faithful they have become
faithless, from being patient full of rage, from lovers
of peace lovers of strife, from lovers of simplicity
full of craft, from lovers of modesty without shame,
once gentle now they are savage, once innocent now
they are doers of evil.

After persons of either sex have fallen away to you,2
they grieve that others are still there, where they
were born 3 ; they urge those who are standing firm 4
to follow them in their fall. If they knew that they
had gained glory,5 they would have enjoyed their
own happiness in silence.6 But, desiring to have some
consolation for their own wicked departure, they
invite others to fall in like manner,7 and accuse those
who are resting 8 in the bosom of Mother Church as

1 quos aut factione aut subtilitate, ut vestros faceretis, seducers
potuistis.

2 post quod ad vos delapsi sunt aut delapsae.

3 sc. in the Catholic Church.

4 bene stantes, sc. in Ecclesia Catholica. Cf . iii, 9 : ' Aut stetit
f rater, sorore migrante.'

5 si scirent se gloriam consecutos. Cf . v, 7 : ' Quod quasi ad gloriam
vestram a vobis semper auditur.'

6 Nothing, of course, could have been easier to the Donatists
than to retort this observation.

7 nunc autem perditos transitus suos consolari cupientes ceteros,
ut similiter labantur, invitant. Consolari — to divert their attention
from their own mistake and thus get some consolation. Du Pin
places a comma after perditos, thus making it agree with the ceteros
that follows. 8 residentes.

CRAFTY BIRD-CATCHERS 267

though they were slothful and slow.1 For they are
not ashamed to use these words :

' Gaius, Seius, or Gaia, Seia,2 how long are you staying
where you are ? '

That is to say :

' You ought now to follow me in my error, you ought
now to desert the truth. How long are you staying where
you are ? '

That is to say :

' Imitate me in my fall, imitate me in my shameful
passing over.3 How long will you be called one of the
Faithful ? Now desert the Faith. Now learn to do
Penance.'

You are bird-catchers, and these men or women
are the birds. For there is not only one kind of
bird-catchers.

Some there are who with an art that is not artful 4
go to trees resting on deep roots, which are to be found
in front of a grove, where the birds fly naturally and
sit on real boughs. Amongst them you will find no
frauds, no wily devices. These men rely only upon
their art and skill in bird-catching.

But I say that you resemble the bird-catcher,
who, unlike the rest, is not content to go, after night
has departed, before sunrise, to real trees. He carries
his tree with him, and makes up into a bundle what
will be his grove. Out of which, with all kinds of
devices, he fashions a tree that has neither pith nor

1 quasi pigros. In iii, 8 St. Optatus has called the schismatic
Donatists pigri.

2 Gai Sei vel Gaia Seia (cf. iii, n).

3 transitus turpes. Evidently it was inconceivable to St. Optatus
that any deserters from the Catholic Church should invite others to
join their schism from any sense of duty. * artc simplici.

268 A TRICK

roots. On this he places false boughs. So that,
which had been lately cut down, now receives strange
leaves in place of those which it had lost. Some
birds he carries with him shut up in a cage.
Upon the false branches he places others that have
been stuffed to look as though they were alive. The
living birds are hid in their cages, the others are
seen, like living birds upon the branches. A double
fraud is united by the craft of one man.1 And to
deceive the simplicity of the birds that are alive and
flying about, those which are certainly dead seem to
stretch out their necks and sing, whilst those which
are out of sight in their prison are thought to be
singing from the throats of the others. Between
the appearance on the trees and the sound from the
cage one crafty mind does its work. The birds that
were already captured capture those that are free,
and the birds that are dead slay those that are alive.2
Such are they whom you have wounded either
by re-baptising them, or by making them submit to
Penance. These men and women strive with great
zeal and labour, that other men and women may
perish with them — for fear lest they should perish
alone.

1 iungituv una geminata fraude calliditas.

2 A friend has been kind enough to give me the following infor
mation : — In the Shahabad District of Bengal, there are bird-
catchers to this day who place a light woodwork frame on their
heads covered with small branches and leaves. Armed with a long
thin pole with a small two-pronged fork at the end, which is bird-
limed, they catch birds sitting on the trees high above them. The
man under the cover cannot be seen by the birds, whilst he can see
the birds through two small eye-holes in the cover.

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK VII

AT first sight there appears to be some question as to the
genuineness of this Seventh Book. But on examination
it becomes practically certain that the great bulk of the
Book was written by St. Optatus several years after he
had closed his original work with the striking metaphor
on bird-catching to be found at the end of Book VI.
Some slight doubt still remains concerning two passages
in the first chapter, and one paragraph in the second
chapter. But these are almost certainly (were it not for
the opinion of Ziwsa, to which we shall shortly allude,
we should write quite certainly) spurious. Accordingly —
in this following the example of Du Pin — we have separated
them from the text, and marked them A, B, C.1

Du Pin indeed tells us in his Preface to his Edition of
St. Optatus that until he had examined the MSS. he was
inclined to reject all the Seventh Book as spurious, in
consequence of the following considerations :

(I) St. Optatus himself gives the argument of his

work as a whole, and says that he had divided
it into six Books.2 Moreover, St. Jerome writes
expressly that St. Optatus wrote six Books against
the Donatist calumnies.3

(II) In his First Book St. Optatus terms the sins of
Betrayal and Schism duo mala pessima* In
certain parts of the Seventh Book, on the contrary,
all kinds of excuses — some of them very far
fetched — are made for the sin of Betrayal, and
the writer endeavours to tone down its guilt by
all the means at his command.

1 Three other short passages, which I have printed in square
brackets, are in the same position as A, B, C (see p. 310).

2 i, 7. 3 Lib. de viris illustribus , Cap. cxxi. 4 i, 13.

270 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

(III) It seemed to Du Pin at first that there was a
certain difference of style between the Seventh
and the first six Books.

But on discovering that the Seventh Book was found
(without A, B, C) in all the manuscripts which
he was able to consult, Du Pin was led to revise
his opinion as to its genuineness.

The difficulty arising (I) from the fact that St. Optatus

has himself mentioned his intention of writing six

Books vanished upon further consideration, for

(a) it is certain (as we have already stated x) that

Optatus made additions to his original work in the

time of Pope Siricius, and further (b) in the opening

words of Book VII its author himself distinctly

states that this Book is an afterthought, due to the

fact that the Donatists did not profess themselves

satisfied by that which he had already written.

With regard to (II) the change of tone concerning the

sin of Betrayal — which had been Du Pin's chief difficulty

— it is only to be found in the passages marked A and B.

These Du Pin unhesitatingly rejects (whilst, in the end,

with no less hesitation accepting the rest of the Book)

as the work of a Donatist interpolator, referring to them

in his Index as pseudo-Optatus.

As for (III) the dissimilarity of style, Du Pin remarks
that this too is only to be observed in A and B. Indeed
far from being dissimilar in style there is a very remark
able similarity in this respect between Book VII, speaking
generally, and the other six Books ; whilst for myself
I fully agree with Ziwsa in thinking that even A and B
are quite Optatian in style. From this point of view
they seem to me to be clever forgeries — skilful imitations
of the genuine work of St. Optatus, with which their
author was evidently familiar.

The only remaining difficulty arises from the statement

1 See Preface, p. xxii.

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK VII 271

of St. Jerome to which we have already alluded. But
is it not possible that St. Jerome was only acquainted with
the First Edition of St. Optatus ? J However this may
be, Du Pin meets the difficulty by suggesting that when
St. Jerome wrote, that which we now read as a connected
whole, and call the Seventh Book of St. Optatus, was
principally to be found in the shape of Appendices or
additions, not to the completed work, but to several of
the other Books regarded separately. To illustrate this
idea, Du Pin points out that the Donatists very likely
objected that two statements — both of them to be found
in the First Book — that their Fathers were Betrayers,
and that yet they were the Brethren of Catholics — were
markedly inconsistent and even destructive of one another.
' If our Fathers were Betrayers/ we can well imagine that
they urged, ' why do you call us Brethren, and why invite
us to Communion ? ' 2 To this objection St. Optatus made
his reply in the first three chapters of the Seventh Book.

All that we read in the two following chapters con
cerning ' flies about to die ' and about Jamnes and Mambres
should be referred to the end of the Second, or perhaps
rather to the Fourth Book, where Donatist calumnies of a
similar character are refuted.

The last two chapters (6 and 7) belong to the Third
Book, to which they are an addition. As this seems to
be, in the judgement of all, a fact established beyond
doubt, I have already printed the translation of those
chapters in their proper place at the end of Book III.

1 St. Jerome's words are as follows : ' Optatus Afer Episcopus
Milevitanus ex parte Catholica scripsit sub Valentiniano et Valente
Principibus adversus Donatianae partis calumniam Libros sex.'
We know that, on any hypothesis, St. Optatus wrote only six
Books ' in the time of the Emperors V alentinianus and Valens.'
(Cf. Preface, p. xxii.)

2 Cf. vii, i : ' video adhuc vestras vel vestrorum provocationes
pullulare, quas vos audio dicere, ad unam communionem non
oportuisse quaeri, cum filios traditorum vos esse constiterit, ad
ea pauca respondeam.'

272 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

I have thought it safer, however, (in this following
not only Ziwsa but Du Pin himself,) to keep the first five
chapters in the form of a separate Book, as we find them
in the existing manuscripts.

A, B, C, etc., stand in a different position from the rest
of the Book, not merely from the fact that they are want
ing in most oftheMSS.,i but above all from their character.
Ziwsa indeed hesitates and thinks that they may perhaps
be a kind of retractation by St. Optatus of the severe
things which are to be found in his work, especially in
his First Book. Everything written by Ziwsa concerning
Optatus deserves, and must always receive, the most
serious and respectful consideration. But it is certain
that there is no sign whatever in Book VII (apart from
A and B) of anything that expresses toning down or
apology, much less retractation, by the author. There is no
recognition of any contrast between previous and present
statements. Ziwsa's theory must therefore remain, what
after all he states it to be, a bare possibility and unverifiable
hypothesis. Moreover, not only do A and B contradict
the argument concerning the wickedness of Betrayal,
which has been brought forward again and again in the
previous Books, but they are also in opposition to the
clear statement made in the Seventh Book itself at the
end of its first chapter :

' Tradere peccatum est.'

They seem to me to be in their poverty of thought, lack
of argumentative force, and general perversity of expression,
quite unworthy of St. Optatus (as well as contrary to the
consistent expression of his mind), and to be just what a
cunning Donatist, if he had the opportunity, would be
glad to insert in the work of his great adversary — or
possibly they may have come from the hand of some
unscrupulous Catholic, who, in his desire to make the

1 They are only to be found in C and in the Codex Tilianus.

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK VII 273

reconciliation of the Donatists as easy as possible, allowed
himself to forget for the moment that no end, however
good and desirable in itself, can justify the employment
of dishonest means for its attainment. In any case,
whatever their history, we may be quite sure that A and
B failed of their purpose. They remain merely as a
somewhat wearisome curiosity.

Ziwsa, who has no doubt as to the genuineness of the
rest of Book VII, observes that in many places it is
carelessly written, and partakes rather of the nature of
a rough sketch, or of notes not yet worked up, than of a
finished composition. But we must not press this too
far, for, as Du Pin reminds us, St. Optatus in all the Books
is very unequal in the polish of his work. Still, even
though we bear this fact in mind, we shall have to admit
that, if Book VII is really to be considered as a whole
(and not a collection of chapters to be added to preceding
books), the conclusion — wherever we place it (whether
at the close of Chapter 5 or of Chapter 7) — is exceedingly
abrupt and furnishes the most marked contrast in this
respect to the highly polished termination of Book VI.
That this was the end of the work as originally written,
there can (as we have already stated) be no doubt.

With regard then to Book VII, problems exist with
reference to its exact purpose and original arrange
ment which will never admit of certain and definite
solution, but that (apart from A and B) it is the work
of St. Optatus is no longer questioned by any critic.
The MSS. evidence is too clear, and the similarity of
thought and expression too striking, for doubt to be pos
sible. For example, who that has ever read the undoubted

' Igitur negare non potes scire te in urbe Roma Petro
primo Cathedram episcopalem esse conlatam/

of ii, 2, can hesitate as to the

' Cathedram Petri . . . poteris adprobare mendacium ? '

274 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

of vii, 5? This question of the Seventh Book is simply
the echo of the statement of the First Book. Non potes
negare = poteris adprobare? (id est, non poteris adprobare)
mendacium. We have here St. Optatus' summing up
— his final cry of triumphant gladness. No forger could
have had the first sentence of St. Optatus so stamped
upon his mind, with its unmistakable ring, as to be able
to change its form and yet reproduce it with such apparent
unconsciousness and lack of effort, as forgery would
here involve. And many similar instances might be ad
duced, which prove that, even independently of the weight
of MSS. authority, this Seventh Book comes from the same
brain and personality to which we owe the first six
Books of St. Optatus against the Donatists.

BOOK THE SEVENTH

IN THIS LAST BOOK IT IS SHOWN THAT THE CHILDREN

OF THE BETRAYERS, WHOSE NAMES WERE GIVEN
IN THE FIRST BOOK, MAY NOW, FOR THE SAKE OF
UNITY, BE RECEIVED BACK INTO THE CATHOLIC
COMMUNION.

HAVING shown up the Betrayers and having pointed i- That
out the holy Church— having refuted the calumnies
which you were wont to utter against us, and having bad
exposed your sins— which have merited to be chidden the <

i /-> -j j munion of

by (jod — and your repetition of the Sacraments, and the church
your gratuitous claims l and your violence, we ought SSy than
now to finish our answers and statements 2; but, since SSttff
I perceive that, though the wood of malice has been whoTere
cut down by the axes of truth, challenges are still pfltycf
sprouting 3 forth from you or from your friends, in
which, as I hear, you maintain that, in consequence
of your being known as the children of Betrayers, you
ought not to be invited to the communion of unity 4
—to this let me say a few words in reply.

It is most true that the Catholic Church was
sufficient for herself with her countless peoples in all

1 praesumptioncs (cf. i, 7; ii, 5 etc.), i.e. that the effects of
Baptism were derived from the sanctity of their recipients, not from
God.

2 responsorum dictorumque nostrorum.

3 pullulare. 4 ad unam

276 COUNCIL OF CIRTA

countries 1 ; she was sufficient for herself also in Africa,
although here she is but in few places. But God
was not pleased with your separation, for the members
of one body had been torn asunder, and, against the
Will of God, you, who are our brothers, wandered
away from your brethren. Sentence had been passed
at home 2 upon your fathers, that they who ought
to have been expelled in consequence of their con
fession of Betrayal, should go forth of their own
accord. No [formal] judgement was pronounced,3
yet the effect of the sentence was obtained. They
should have been cast off after the Betrayal, to which
they owned in the Council in Numidia. But, not to
give an opportunity for the display of their malice,4
the severity of judgement was refrained from, and
your ancestors of their own accord made their plans,
in consequence of their guilt, to cover up their crime
and depart with the appearance of pride — when they
should have grieved and blushed for shame. For if
at that time they had thought it right, for the sake
of Peace, to enter into unity,5 and had come to the
Catholic Church of their own accord — unlike you,
who are known to have been drawn 6 by the Will of

1 revera sufficiebat sibi Ecclesia Catholica habens innumerabiles
populos in provinciis universis.

z domesticum indicium. At the Council of Cirta in Numidia.

3 Against those who had consecrated Majorinus.

4 ne invidia esset. Du Pin forgets the ' malice ' against Secundus
(cf. ' et cum ipse Secundus a Purpurio increparetur,' i, 14), when
he understands ' ne invidia esset ' to mean here ' that they might
not be reproached with the expulsion of so many Bishops.'

5 Balduinus in his second Edition inserted here the passage A
which I print at the end of the Book (p. 298).

6 adductos (cf . iii, 1 1 : ' quern fides adduxerit ') .

SETH 277

God 1 to return whence you had wandered (though
you are wandering still) — if, as I have said, they had
come of their own accord to the Catholic Church,
perhaps our fathers would have hesitated about
receiving them, because they had been Betrayers ;
but we have cause for rejoicing, that none guilty of
Betrayal have lived down to our times.

So to-day we find quite a new state of affairs,
since we have to deal, not with them, but with you.
Although it appears that a stain has passed from
them to you by inheritance, nevertheless you cannot
on this ground be held guilty together with your
fathers, according to the Judgement of God, who has
spoken by Ezekiel the prophet, saying :

' The soul of the father is Mine, and Mine is the soul
of the son. The soul that sinneth, shall be punished
alone.' 2

And this was proved even in ancient times — at
the very beginning of the world,3 in that his father's
sin did not belong to Seth, the son of Adam.4 And

1 non sine voluntate Dei (St. Optatus often uses this phrase, as
also its equivalent cum voluntate Dei).

2 Ez. xviii, 4. 3 in ipsis natalibus mundi.

* dum non pertinuit ad Seth, filium Adae, patris admissum.
From the theological point of view this has been considered the
most difficult passage to be found in the works of St. Optatus.
St. Augustine writes (deHaer. 19): ' Sethiani nomen acceperunt a
filio Adae, qui vocatus est Seth. Eum quippe honorant, sed fabulosa
et haeretica vanitate.' The Sethitic legend is distinctly African.
Julius Africanus is quoted as one of the first Christian writers to
extol this Patriarch unduly, and the legend went on growing. Some,
therefore, have thought that St. Optatus had received unawares a
false tradition from heretical sources about Seth. Thus Casaubon
writes with regard to this passage of Optatus : ' Non ego is iam,
qui gravius quidquam de viro sancto pronuntiaverim , Id tantum

H- T 3

278 EXODUS XX, 5

that no one might say that in another place it was
written by the Lord that He would

' punish the sins of the fathers even unto the fourth
generation ' x —

— these are undoubtedly both words 2 of God, but
both do not refer to one people. The first was said
through Moses to a definite set of men, the second
through Ezekiel to a different class. God, since
He knew that the Jews would declare to Pontius
Pilate :

' His Blood be upon us, and upon our children/ 3

in His foreknowledge saw that what they would say,
was, in comparison with the greatness of their sin,
but little, and threatened the Jews themselves, in order
that their crime might be expiated by adequate 4
penalties, saying that He would punish the offences
of the fathers even to the fourth generation. So this
word 5 belongs in a particular way to the Jews, and
to them alone ; but the other, in which God has deigned

dicam, vereri me, ne imprudent! et incauto illi haec exciderint, quae
saevioris examinis acrimoniam aegre sustineant.' All the other
commentators pass the passage over in silence. But is it not
almost certain that St. Optatus had not the doctrine of original sin
before his mind at all ? With much probability it may be urged
that the question here concerns not Adam qua father of the human
race, but Adam considered as any other father. In this sense it is
clear that Adam's sins were not attributed to his son Seth any more
than are the sins of any other father attributed to any other son.
We must always bear in mind that Optatus wrote before the rise
of the Pelagian heresy. Still, the difficulty will remain unanswered:
Why should Optatus in this connection have mentioned Seth rather
than Abel, or even Cain?

1 Ex. xx, 5. z voces. 3 Matt, xxvii, 25.

4 conpetentibus , 6 vox.

MATTHEW XXVII, 25 279

to promise not to punish in sons any sins of their
fathers, nor in fathers any faults perchance committed
by their sons, belongs to Christians.1

Your fathers, who are proved to have done these
things in the days of Unity, have fallen away from the
number of the living, leaving you as it were an in
herited stain, which God has already washed away
by His Providence, when He made a distinction (as
we have said above) between fathers and their sons.
Accordingly, since Betrayal is a sin, your fathers
must see to it, as to what answer they may make
in the Judgement of God ; but your sin it cannot be,
since you are living in other times.

So it is that for long past we have desired to receive n. That
you into our Communion, because it was not you that fvifUm be
sinned at that time, but your fathers.2

Nor ought any man to judge concerning another

man, as though he were himself wholly without sin, be borne
since it has been written in the Gospel that Christ Day of

cavc . Judge-

saYs • ment.

' Judge not, that you be not judged.' 3

And this above all, because it will not be possible to
find one who is absolutely holy. For should any such
there be, who are unable to sin, they are guilty of
lying in the Lord's Prayer, if without reason they beg
for pardon and say to God the Father :

1 Here Balduinus inserted B, the second doubtful passage.
I have printed it immediately after A (p. 305).
a And here C ; it may be found on page 310.
3 Matt, vii, i ; Luke vi, 37.

28o CHRIST AND SATAN

' Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that
trespass against us.'

So the Apostle John both shows the consciences
of all men and discloses 1 his own with these words :

' If we shall say that we have not sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us,' 2 —

a saying the reason of which we have explained more
clearly in our Fourth Book. But grant that there
are some who have been made perfect with complete
sanctity, it is not lawful for them to be without brethren,
whom they are taught not to repel by the precepts of
the Gospel, wherein we find described a field — that is
the whole world, in which is the Church 3 and Christ
the Sower, who gives wholesome precepts.4 On the
other hand there is an evil man — that is the Devil,5
who sows cruel 6 sins not in the light, but in the

1 resignet. CGv designet. 2 i John i, 8.

3 ager, qui est totus orbis, in quo est Ecclesia. If St. Augustine at
the Conference at Carthage had remembered and employed these
careful words of St. Optatus — ' the field in which is the Church,' he
would have been saved a tiresome discussion with his Donatist
adversaries. The Donatists naturally and triumphantly replied
to the argument of the Catholics that the tares had to grow up with
the wheat in the Field, and that the Field is the Church : ' Oh no,
on the contrary, the Maker of the world Himself has said that the
Field is the world. Now " the world has not known the Father."
But if (as you say) the Church is the Field, it is also the world, for
" the Field is the world." Therefore the Church has not known the
Father ! Which is absurd.' To this ingenious syllogism St. Augus
tine had to rely upon a long explanation as to the different meaning
of the word ' world ' in Holy Scripture (Gesta Coll. Carthag.
Diei iii, cclxv — cclxxxi ; Brev. Coll. iii, 10). No exception could
have been taken to the statement of Optatus ' the Church is in
the world.' Had it been used, the Donatists would have been
deprived of one of their many opportunities of wasting time.

4 praecepta salutaria.

6 homo est malus, id est diabolus.

6 inportuna peccata. In contrast with the wholesome precepts

BOTH SOW SEEDS 281

darkness.1 Different kinds of seeds come to birth 2
in one field. Similarly, in the Church there is not a
mass of souls all alike.3 The field receives good seeds
or bad — the seeds are different. But there is One
Creator of all souls — one Lord of the field. There are
Two who sow seeds where the tares are born, but the
field has one Lord, the Lord God Himself. His is the
earth ; His are the good seeds ; His is also the rain.
Accordingly, we have consented to receive in unity
you, who have been drawn 4 [to the Catholic Church],
for we are not free either to separate or to reject even
sinners who have been born with us in one field [and]
have received nourishment 5 from one water 6 — that is
from the one Baptism ; even as the Apostles were not
free to separate the tares from the wheat (since separa
tion is impossible without destruction7), lest, whilst
pulling up what ought to be pulled up, that which ought

(' praecepta salutaria ') of Christ, concerning which Optatus has
just written. (Christ's precepts save us ; sins harm us cruelly.)
Inportunitas has been used in the sense of inmanitas in ii, 18
(cf. however iii, 7, where inportune is used for unseasonably, which
may perhaps be the meaning here — ' unseasonable sins ').

1 per tenebras.

z nascuntur diversa semina.

3 in Ecclesia non est similis turba animarum.

4 adductos, sc. ad Ecclesiam Catholicam (cf. last chapter : ' ad
Ecclesiam Catholicam . . . non sine voluntate Dei adductos ') .

5 nutntos.

6 una pluvia nutntos. Thus Du Pin. Ziwsa places a comma
after pluvia, making una pluvia depend not upon nutritos, but upon
preceding natos = ' born with us from one water — that is to say,
nourished from the one Baptism.' It must be admitted that, strictly
speaking, not nourishment but birth comes from Baptism, but on
the other hand seeds are not born from rain. For this reason I

'prefer on the whole Du Pin's punctuation, and have translated
accordingly.

7 sine exterminio.

282 THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT

not to be, should be, trodden down. In like manner
Christ has commanded that both His own seeds, and
those which belong to the other,1 should grow in His
field throughout the entire world, in which there is
the One Church.2

After all have ripened 3 together, shall come the
Day of Judgement, which is the harvest of souls. Then
there shall sit the Judge, the Son of God, who recognises
what is His own and what is the other's.4 His it shall
be to choose what He may gather in His barn,5 and
what deliver over to the burning — whom He shall
condemn 6 to torments that know no end,7 and upon
whom He may bestow 8 the rewards which He has
promised.

Let us recognise that we all are men ; let no one
usurp to himself the power of Judgement that belongs
to God. For if any Bishop were to claim it all for
himself,9 pray, what will there be for Christ to do in
Judgement ? It should be enough for a man not to
be guilty of sins of his own, without wishing to be judge
of the sins of another.

aliena.

in agro Suo per totum orbem terrarum, in quo est Una Ecclesia,

post crementa communia. Crementum (literally increase) is
an unusual Low Latin variant of incrementum.

quid est Suum et quid alienum, 5 in horreo.

destinet. 7 interminata. 8 repraesentet.

si sibi totum vindicet. The context tells us that the totum
here refers to the power of judgement and especially of separation.
If any Bishop were now to separate all sinners from the Visible
Church, there could not be that separation by Christ, on the Day of
Judgement, of the tares from the wheat, and of the goats from the
sheep, of which we read in the Gospels. It is hardly necessary to
say that the Church has never at any time claimed to judge in for o
inferno, that is, concerning the conscience or interior state and
future lot of any man.

UNITY TO BE PRESERVED 283

So it is our declaration l [not only] that we do not
reject you, [but even that for the sake of Peace we
would not have rejected your fathers, if it had come to
pass in their day that unity was accomplished].2 For
it would be a sin for us Bishops to do now, that which
was not done by the Apostles, who were not permitted
either to separate seeds or to pluck up the tares from
the wheat.

But even if the Catholic Church should hesitate in. The

. . . . . . , . Donatists

about receiving you, ought you not to have striven to might have
attain the pattern of unity 3 ? But you have shrunk to?heled
from bringing forward the examples to be found in the

Gospel, as for instance what has been written concerning Apostle
the person of the most blessed Peter, where we may ask pardon
read a description of the way in which unity is to be Sefves?m
retained or procured.4 Without doubt it is evil to
do anything against a prohibition, but it is worse not
to have unity when you may. We see that this unity
was preferred to punishment 5 by Christ Himself, who
chose that all His disciples should be in unity rather
than punish 6 a sin against Himself. For, as He did

1 professio.

2 The words in square brackets are only to be found in C and
Codex Tilianus.

3 unitatis adsequi formam. Unitatis forma = the idea of unity
presented by Christ and externally realised in the Visible Church.
It is very difficult to translate forma, as used by St. Optatus,
into English (cf. v, 5 formam baptizandi ; i, 21 exemplorum formam ;
v, 3 formam humilitatis ; vii, 6 iudicandi formam ; v, 14 quam
formam habet mens). It is obviously impossible to render forma in
these passages by the same English word, though the idea is the
same in all of them — a rule or concept, clothed, as it were, before
our eyes, in order that we may adhere to it.

4 forma unitatis retinendae vel faciendae.

6 vindictae suae. 6 vindicate.

284 PETER ALONE

not wish to be denied, He declared that whosoever
should deny Him before men him would He deny
before His Father,1 [but He did not declare that He
would punish one who should give up any Scripture,
since it is more serious to deny Him who spoke, than to
give up the words which He has spoken].3 And though
this has been thus written, nevertheless, for the sake of
unity, blessed Peter (for whom it would have been
enough if after his denial he had obtained pardon only)
both deserved to be placed over all the Apostles, and
alone received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,
which he was to communicate to the rest.3 So from

1 Cf. Matt, x, 33 ; Luke xii, 9.

2 The passage in square brackets is a clumsy interpolation. It
is, however, to be found in C and Codex Tilianus.

3 bono unitatis beatus Petrus . . . et pvaejevvi Apostolis omnibus
meruit et claves vegni caelorum communicandas ceteris solus accepit.
After communicandas some Gallican and Anglican authorities
have supplied a Christo. Thus Dr. Pusey (Note R to Tertullian,
Oxford Translation of the Fathers). Similarly Mr. Denny (op.
cit., n. 1165) writes 'that is, as Bossuet says, that Peter -first
received the keys which were afterwards to be imparted to the
Apostles (Matt, xviii and John xx), but to be imparted not by
Peter, but by Christ, as is clear.' Dr. Pusey sends us to Du Pin.
Now it is curious that in his edition of St. Optatus Du Pin has no
note whatsoever on this passage. Dr. Pusey, however, refers to
his De Antigua Ecclesiae disciplina Dissertationes historicae, where
we read as follows (Diss. iv, cap. i) : ' communicandas ceteris (id est
quod Christus commendaturus BY at ceteris).' But it should be noted
that neither Du Pin nor Bossuet nor Denny say one single word
in support of their view that a Christo should be understood after
the word communicandas in this passage of Optatus. It is simple
assertion, to which Bossuet adds the words ' as is clear ' (Defensio
Decl. Cleri Gallicani, pars III, lib. viii, cap. xii, torn, ii, p. 90) ; on
the other hand, it should be observed that we nowhere read either
in Matt, xviii or in John xx — the passages referred to by Bossuet —
that Christ gave the Keys to the other Apostles. With regard to
the words of St. Optatus we may note in the first place that

RECEIVED THE KEYS 285

this example it is given us to understand that for the
sake of unity sins should be buried, since the most
blessed Apostle Paul says that charity * can cover a
multitude of sins :

' Bear your burdens together/ 2
he says ; and in another place :

' Charity is high-souled,3 charity is kind, charity
envieth not, charity is not puffed up, charity seeketh not
the things that are her own.' 4

we shall search in vain for any passage where he states that Christ
gave the Keys to ' the other Apostles ' ; on the contrary Optatus
says expressly, both here and in i, 10 (' ut haeretici omnes neque
claves habeant, quas solus Petrus accepit '), that Peter alone received
them ; so that for the Gallican interpretation of this passage to be
possible we should have to change the word solus to primus — the alone
of Optatus for the first of Bossuet ; secondly that, though Optatus
uses the verb communicare in eighteen places, in every other case it
is used intransitively — twice absolutely and fifteen times with the
dative — in the technical sense of ecclesiastical communion (to be in
communion with) . Here however we find the usual classical construc
tion, communicare aliquid (here claves) cum aliquo or alicui (here
ceteris) , Communicare aliquid alicui always means in Latin to give
something (e.g. information, power, here the Keys) to someone else,
without ceasing to possess it oneself — to make it a common pos
session shared between oneself and the other (cf. Liv. Lib. xxiii, 5 :
' Civitatem nostram magnae parti vestrum dedimus communica-
vimusque vobiscum/ and Cicero De Inv. ii, 39 : ' Praemia virtutis
non oportet cum improbis communicari '). This is undeniable
and forces us to see that the gloss a Christo is impossible — apart
from the exigencies of controversy — and does violence to the text,
to which indeed it is in direct opposition. The meaning is clea
beyond all doubt — ' the Keys which he was to communicate to
the rest.' St. Peter had to impart to the other Apostles, for them
to use also, the Keys which, as their ' Head' (cf. infra), he had
himself alone received from Christ.

1 Once more St. Optatus identifies ' charity ' in this famous
passage with unity (cf . iii, 8 : 'si beatus Paulus . . . pronuntiat
se nihil esse, nisi caritatem habuerit, videte an non dicantur martyres

. . . caritatis [i.e. unitatis] desertores').

2 onera vestra invicem sustinete. Cf. Gal. vi, 2.

4 I Cor. xiii, 4, 5.

286 PETER'S SIN

And he has said well. For he had seen all these things
in the other Apostles, who for the sake of unity,
through charity, would not withdraw from the com
munion of ^Peter — of the man, that is to say, who had
denied Christ.1 But if their love of innocence had
been greater than the gain 2 of peace and unity, they
would have said that they ought not to hold com
munion with Peter, who had denied his Master and the
Son of God, the Lord. They might, as has been said,
not have held communion with the most blessed Peter ;
it would have been possible for them to quote against
him the words of Christ, who had declared that He
would deny before His Father whosoever should have
denied Him before men. We ought industriously 3
to pay attention to the inward meaning of this.4
Whilst I say a few words concerning it, may the blessed
Saint Peter himself pardon me,5 if I mention that which
we read and know that he did. I hesitate to say that
so great holiness as his has sinned, but he himself
proved this fact, when he grieved bitterly and wept
copiously, since he would neither have grieved nor
wept, had he not committed any offence. Now the
Head of the Apostles might surely have so governed
himself, as to have done nothing, on account of which

1 Harnack quotes this sentence and observes : ' That is still a
dangerous fundamental thought of Catholicism at the present day.'

2 utilitas. 3 diligenter. * ad quam formam.

6 ipsius Sancti Petri beatitude veniam tribuat. In the same
spirit St. Augustine carefully praises St. Cyprian before combating
his views as to Rebaptism of heretics (e.g. De Baptis. con. Donat.
vii, i : ' Et beatus Cyprianus quidem iam corpore quod corrum-
pitur non aggravante animam nee deprimente terrena habitatione
sensum multa cogitantem serenius aspicit veritatem quam meruit
adipisci per caritatem talem. Adiuvet itaque nos orationibus
suis in istius carnis mortalitate ' etc.).

IN DENYING CHRIST 287

he should grieve. But many faults 1 are seen in this
one case of his,2 for this reason, that it might be shown
that for the sake of unity all things should be reserved
for God.3 And I know not whether in any other
man this kind of sin could be of such weight, as was
clearly the case in blessed Peter. For whoever during
some persecution perchance denied the Son of God,
will be seen, when compared with blessed Peter, to
have sinned more lightly, if he denied Him whom he
had not seen, if he denied Him whom he had not
recognised, if he denied Him to whom he had made no
promise, if he denied but once. For in blessed Peter
this kind of sin was broadened out 4 — in the first place,
when Christ asked of all, whom did men say that He
was, one said ' Elias/ another said ' the Prophet ' ;
then we read that Christ said :

' Whom do you say that I am ? '
and Peter said to Him :

' Thou art the Son of the Living God ' 5 —
on account of which recognition 6 he deserved to be
praised by Christ, [because this he had said through
the prompting 7 of God the Father 8 ] . Behold, when
the others did not recognise the Son of God, He was
recognised by Peter alone.

In the second place, when Christ said on the eve
of His Passion :

1 multa errata. z in uno titulo eius.

3 omnia debere Deo servari, sc. for the Judgement of God.
(Cf. i, 14 : ' Secundus consilium accepit . . . ut talem caussam Deo
servaret ... hi dixerunt talem caussam Deo debere reservari.')

4 dilatatum est. 6 Matt, xvi, 15-17.

6 pro qua agnitione. 7 instinctu Dei Patris.

8 The passage in square brackets is to be found only in C and
Codex Tilianus.

288 THE KEYS GIVEN TO PETER

' Behold I am bound, and you all flee,' 1

when the others kept silence, he alone promised that
he would not go back.2 Out of His Foreknowledge,
the Son of God said :

' O Peter, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me
thrice.' 3

Something else was added to the weight of his sin —
a promise, which he would not fulfil. After Christ
was brought into the house of Caiaphas, out of so great
a number no one was questioned — to fill up the measure
of his transgression — save blessed Peter. When
questioned, at first he denies ; when questioned, he
denies a second time ; thirdly, he said that he knew
Christ not at all ; and the cock crew, not to mark the
time by his crowing, but that blessed Peter might
recognise how he had sinned. At last he grieved
bitterly and wept copiously.

Behold (as we have said above), when the others
did not recognise he alone recognised, when the others
made no promises he alone promised, when the others
did not deny once he alone denied and that three
times, but yet, for the sake of unity, he was not to be
separated from the number of the Apostles.4 From
which we understand that all things were ordered
by the Providence of the Saviour, that Peter should
receive the Keys. The way of malice was stopped up,
that the Apostles might not conceive in their minds
that they were free to judge, and condemn with severity,
him who had denied Christ. So many guiltless ones

1 John xvi, 32 ; Matt, xxvi, 31. 2 non recessurum.

3 Matt, xxvi, 34.

4 de numero apostolorum separari non meruit.

THOUGH A SINNER 289

are standing upright,1 and the sinner receives the Keys,
that the work of unity 2 might receive its pattern.3
It was provided that the sinner should open for the
guiltless,4 lest the guiltless might close [the gates]
against sinners, and thus the unity which is necessary
could not be.5

If you had mentioned these things, and asked
for communion, how 6 could the Catholic Church, our
Mother, have hesitated to receive you in her Bosom,7
since it is certain that you are not Betrayers, but the
sons of Betrayers ?

Now some of your party in their desire to point IV- That

J J f Eccles.x,i

us out to their people as worthy of contempt, mix up should be

in their discourses that which was said by the Prophet
Solomon concerning ' the flies that are soon to die ' : tharu-o
' Flies that are soon to die banish the sweetness of oil,' 8

and call us ' flies that are soon to die.' That liquid 9
which is seasoned by 10 the Name of Christ, and, after

1 slant tot innocentes = are standing unf alien (cf . ii, 25) . (Possibly
stant — are standing by — so Ziwsa in Index s.v. stare}

2 unitatis negotium. 3 formaretur (cf. p. 283, note 3).

4 It was provided that St. Peter (' the sinner ') should open for
the other Apostles (' the guiltless ').

5 A schismatic or other sinner could not comply with the
command of living within the Unity of the Church (' the unity
which is necessary'), unless recovery were possible for him on
repentance. So Peter holds the Keys, and through his ministry
the gates of the Church on earth and of Paradise above are always
open for the sinner who will turn from sin and seek the admittance
which will never be denied him.

6 quando. Quando in several places is used by St. Optatus to =
How (e.g. ii, 21).

7 pio sinu. 8 Eccles. x, i.
9 ilium scilicet liquorem. 10 ex.

2QO

FLIES

it has been seasoned is called Chrism, they call ' Oil.' 1
Before consecration 2 it is still by nature simple oil ;
it becomes sweet, when it is seasoned from 3 the Name
of Christ.

There are then three things, of which the Prophet
Solomon has made mention — the oil, the sweetness and
the flies that are soon to die which destroy the sweetness.
These three things have their places in due order.
In the first place is the oil, in the second is the sweet
ness that has been produced,4 in the third the dying
flies which banish the sweetness. Let then whoever
amongst you brings forward such an argument 5
prove why he calls us ' flies that are soon to die.'
You think that you have the power of consecration 6
which gives its sweetness to the oil — you have then
both the oil and its sweetness. Do we ' banish ' your oil,7
so that you may with reason 8 call us ' flies which are
soon to die ' ? That which is yours remains with you.
And if anyone passes over from you to us, he is left
by us, as he was sent away by you.9 So how can

1 Albaspinaeus observes that the heretics of his day in like
manner called the holy Chrism ' oil ' out of contempt. This fact
is familiar to all students of the letters of both the English and
foreign Reformers. They habitually wrote of Ordination as
' greasing.'

2 antequam fiat. 3 de.

4 suavitas de confectione, i.e. through consecration.

5 quisquis est talis tractator ex vobis.

6 si apud vos putatis esse confectionem. Catholic writers often
use the phrase conficere sacramentum, and even conficere Corpus
Domini.

7 Catholics never questioned the validity of Donatist orders.
Consequently such an Episcopal act as the consecration of Chrism
(however illicitly) was validly performed. 8 merito.

9 The baptised man was regarded as baptised, the priest as a
priest, the Bishop as a Bishop, etc.

THAT ARE SOON TO DIE 291

you say that we are ' flies soon to die, which corrupt
the sweetness of the oil/ when, [coming] after you,
we do no such deed ? x

Again if you say that the sweetness of the oil
can be corrupted by us, either we can effect some
thing, and give sweetness to the oil, or if, as you
maintain, we are not able to effect anything, then the
oil still remains such as it was by nature.2 How then
do you say that we are ' flies soon to die, which corrupt
the sweetness of the oil ' ?

Accordingly, the oil, before it is consecrated by
us, is such as it was by nature.3 After it has been
consecrated,4 it is able to receive sweetness from the
Name of Christ. How can we by the same action
both consecrate and corrupt ? 5

It follows that, if the oil be sweet of its own nature,
there is nothing more left for men to effect, when
it is consecrated in the Name of Christ.

The same workman cannot at the same time make
two things which are repugnant and opposite to
each other.

When we, in your absence, consecrate, we do not
corrupt. But if we do corrupt, who had before us
consecrated anything for us to conupt ? Wherefore
—that the saying of the Prophet (if it be such) may
not remain without application — understand that
you are the flies that are soon to die. For you have

1 By re-baptising or re-confirming or re-ordaining converts from
Donatism.

2 oleum tale esse, quale et natum est. Cf . natus est hoc facere in
late Latin (it is his nature to do this), and the classical fruges
consumere nati (whose nature it is).

3 conftciatur. * confectum.

5 quomodo possumus uno facto et conficere et corrumpere ?

a 2

292 OIL

banished what it had not by nature, but by consecra
tion, since we read that what is sweet is not capable
of corruption by nature,1 for oil is simple and has
its own one and distinctive name. Once it has been
consecrated it is called Chrism, in which there is the
sweetness which, having shut out 2 the hardness of
sins, softens the outward skin of the conscience,3
which renews a gentle mind, which prepares a habita
tion for the Holy Spirit, so that He may be hither
invited and, after bitterness has been put to flight,
may deign here gladly to dwell. This 4 is the sweet
ness of the oil which flies that are soon to die are
able to corrupt. If we were to banish the oil which
you had consecrated, with reason might you call us
flies that are soon to die, but so long as we preserve
that which you have anointed even as we find it, we
cannot be flies that are soon to die ; but whilst you,
driven by the storms of jealousy, falling, as it were,
[like flies] into the oil, banish (by rebaptising) the
sweetness of that oil, which has been consecrated
in the Name of Christ — from which good morals should
be seasoned,5 and the light of the mind be enkindled
to a health-giving 6 and true understanding — you are
banishing the reality in which was the oil and
sweetness.7

But how have we been able to corrupt a sweetness,
which no man before us produced by consecration ?
You have led men astray. You have rebaptised.

1 suavitas enitn legituv non natuva posse cowumpi (cf. supra),
8 exclusa. 8 cutem conscientiae.

4 sc. sweetness derived from consecration.

5 unde condirentur mores. G salutarem.
7 vos extenninatis rem ubi oleum fuit et suavitas.

AND CHRISM 293

You have anointed a second time.1 Oh for shame !
To your own destruction have you — like flies, which
destroy even whilst they are dying — banished that
which had been consecrated in the Name of Christ.
Now, sin which has no pardon is death. It has been
written that :

' he who shall have sinned against the Holy Ghost,
it shall not be forgiven unto him, either in this world or in
the world to come.' 2

Wherefore, inasmuch as you untruly call us flies,
and hasten to annul 3 all that we have done, and say
that we ought to be rejected or despised, claiming
sanctity for yourselves alone, you put forward your
innocence, as the ground for promising that you
can forgive the sins of others. You see therefore
that it was not of us, as you argue, but of yourselves
that the most blessed Apostle Paul has said :

' There shall be men, lovers of themselves, covetous,
praising themselves, proud, blasphemers, not obeying

1 You have repeated not only Baptism, but also Confirmation.

2 Matt, xii, 22. Casaubon thinks that St. Optatus could not
have made this quotation, and that it slipped in from a marginal
note. It is quite true that the object of St. Optatus, which was to
show that the Donatists were not only muscae (flies) but also
muscae moriturae (flies that were about to die), would have been
attained without the quotation. It would have been enough for
his purpose to have said that their rebaptising was a great sin and
that ' sin without pardon — until it is pardoned — is death.' But
unhappily he has already said (v, 3) that rebaptising (as involving
a certain exorcism of the Holy Ghost) is that sin against the Holy
Ghost for which there is no forgiveness in this world, or in the world
to come. So hard was it to kill rigorism in the African Church, that
we find it even in unexpected places. Still, we rejoice to find that
St. Optatus is not always consistent with himself in this terrible
severity. We have seen how clear he was that even these rebaptisers
should have been reconciled with the Church, had they been willing.

3 dissolvere.

294

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

parents, ungrateful, wicked ; not guarding peace, without
affection, detractors, not gentle, without kindness,1 and
the rest.'

v. That
tists and
Catholics

Mambres

Now, to turn to the fact that you have thought
fit to take upon yourself the character of Moses, who, as
the Apostle Paul tells us, was opposed by Jamnes and
Mambres 2— if this be so, what is the truth, that may
^e ^oun(^ w^^ you> which the Catholic Church opposes ?

Or, what is there with us which you can prove to
be a lie ? Is it that we are in one communion with
the whole world ? Will you be able to prove that
this is a lie ? Is it that we keep and defend the true
and one Creed ? Will you be able to prove that this
is a lie ? Will you be able to prove that the Chair of
Peter is a lie — and the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,
which were granted him by Christ, with which we are
in communion ? 3

1 2 Tim. iii, a. 2 Cf. a Tim. hi, 8 ; Ex. vii, n.

3 Cathedram Petri et claves regni caelorum a Christo concessas,
ubi est nostra societas, numquid poteris adprobare mendacium ?
(cf. ii, 23 : ' Negare non potes scire te in urbe Roma . . . societate
concordat '). The Donatists claimed that they possessed the truth.
To this Optatus opposed the authority of the Catholic Church and
set out the grounds of Catholic security in three pertinent questions :

(a) Is it a lie (a delusion) to appeal to the fact of communion
with the Catholic Church throughout the world ? ' Is it a
delusion that we ave in one communion with the whole [Catholic]
world ? '

(b) Is it a delusion that we keep and guard the Creed ? ' Is
it a delusion that we keep and defend the true and one Creed?'

(c) Is the Chair of Peter a delusion ? ' But you cannot deny
that you know that Peter established his Chair at Rome.' Or, is it
a delusion that we are in communion with that Chair ? Or, is it,
perhaps, a delusion that Christ gave the Keys of Heaven to Peter ? —
the Keys of Heaven which, through our communion with the Chair
of Peter, we share (' ubi est nostra societas ' ; cf. i, 12 ; ii, 4 ; ii, 9).

THE FIRST 295

In the very passage of Scripture which you have
mentioned, consider the order of the actions of the
persons themselves, and pay attention as to which
was the first. Yes, surely, Jamnes and Mambres who
by their false artifices strove to fight against Moses
and the truth, are in the second place. Moses, whose
miracles they attempted in vain to impugn, was before
them.1

As Moses is the first, so also is the Catholic Church
the first.2 As Jamnes and Mambres fought against
and opposed Moses, so also do you in rebellion fight
against the true Catholic Church.3 Why, then, is it
that you 4 have wished to change names between your
selves and us excepting that thou 5 mightest prove
thyself on a level with thy colleagues ? For there are
some of your party, who, having forgotten, or being

Is this all a falsehood — a mere delusion ? (' Numquid poteris
adprobare mendacium ? '}

Such is the argument of Optatus. He appealed just as Catholics
appeal to-day (and as they always have appealed) :

1. To communion with the Catholic Church in other lands,

2. To the possession of the Creed,

3. To communion with the Chair of Peter.

This is the ultimate assurance of safety for a Catholic that he
is in the true Church of Christ — the Soliditas Cathedrae Petri. This
is no freak of the imagination (mendacium) . Here beyond all doubt
we find and here we possess the great reality.

1 Moses came first, before Pharaoh, and though Jamnes and
Mambres worked the same miracles, yet Moses had precedence
and prescriptive right. (Cf . Exod. vii, 1 1 .) St. Optatus here passes
to another great argument for the Catholic Church. It is ' in
possession.'

z ut Moyses prior est, sic et Catholica prior est.

3 rebelles contra veram Catholicam militatis (cf. ' contra
Cathedram Petri sacrilegio militatis,' ii, 5).

* plural — Donatists in general.

5 singular — Parmenian in particular.

296 AS MOSES

ignorant of past times, say against us things which
belong of right to those men who, having already
fallen away from the Catholic Church,1 consecrated
Majorinus — that is to say to the authors of Schism
and Betrayal. Because they still preserved Peace,
before they banished unity, — well-pleasing to God —
they were the light of the world, and with reason were
they termed the salt of the earth. So long as they
taught Peace, they were still called the sons of Peace.
Before they were puffed up, they were blessed in their
poverty of spirit, and were part of the savour. Whilst
they were meek, they were blessed — they were part
of the savour. Whilst they were just, they were
blessed — they were part of the savour. Whilst they
were sons of Peace, they were blessed — they were the
whole of the savour. After they bestowed the riches
of error upon their breath and lungs 2 and made the
schism, they were seen to be cruel and without mercy ;
whilst they impiously tore asunder the members of
the Church following after wickedness, they held the
Kingdom of God in contempt, and, dividing the Church,
were unwilling to be in Peace, they became salt that
has been spoiled,3 from which nothing could be seasoned
to please God with its sweetness.4 And since your
first leaders were thus wicked, some of your colleagues

1 iamdudum de Catholica lapsi.

* erroris divitias dederunt spiritui et pulmonibus suis.

3 sal infatuatum. Cf. S. Aug. De Serm. Dom. i, 6 : 'si sal
infatuatum fuerit, in quo salietur . . . ergo ad nihilum valet sal
infatuatum, nisi ut mittatur foras, et calcetur ab hominibus . . .qui
persecutionem timendo infatuatur, calcatur ab hominibus,' and
S. Hilar. in Matt, iv : 'si sal infatuatum fuerit, ad nihilum valet
id quod salietur.'

4 St. Optatus forgot for a moment that salt does not produce
sweetness.

BEFORE JAMNES AND MAMBRES 297

argue in a wrong-headed way,1 so that they say that
those were foolish, who, quitting the Schism, having,
however late, recognised the truth and their Mother
the Catholic Church, followed after Peace. Some of
your party think that these men made a mistake ;
they consider that, as it were having lost their savour,2
they departed from wisdom. From which it is clear
that you all make the same mistake in your applica
tion of names. For you have compared both Jamnes
and Mambres to peace-loving Catholics, and yourselves,
who are schismatics, you have compared to Moses —
something very far removed from the truth. And
some of your foolish colleagues have thought well
to pass judgement on the wise, so as to say that the
lovers of Peace have become fools and have refused
to understand that their own fathers have, through
their dissension, lost their savour3.4

1 aliter.

2 quasi infatuates (with reference to sal infatuaium supra) .

3 infatuates esse.

4 Chapters VI and VII have been placed at the end of
Book III, to which they belong as an Appendix (v. p. 175-179).

298 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

A?(see p. 276, 1. 21).

If at that time they had thought it right, for the
sake of Peace, to enter into unity, even they would not
have been repelled by the Church, since in their case dire
straits l made excuse for the will. For not any of them
had been voluntarily Betrayers ; otherwise, this sin of
theirs might have been likened to other transgressions.

Whatever God has willed not to be done, He has
forbidden by His Mouth — even as He has said :

' Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, '2

and the rest. He might have also forbidden what was
done by your fathers. But since that which the mind
does is one thing, whereas that which circumstances bring
about is quite another, whatever is within the power of
man to effect is fit matter for prohibition, but whatever
evil deeds are brought about through necessity may not
be blamed with much violence. Therefore wilful sins
receive punishment, those done through necessity receive
pardon.

The murderer, who is not compelled to his crime by
any man, is free to do the deed ; he is also free to leave
it undone ; the adulterer, who is compelled by no one
from outside, can commit adultery or not, as he chooses.
Similarly with other matters of like nature, where free
choice exists.

Accordingly, when those things are done, which have
been forbidden, they are destined for judgement ; when
things which have not been forbidden are done through
some sort of necessity, perchance He who was unwilling

1 necessitas. Here this word does not mean necessity literally,
but rather dire straits.

2 Exodus xx, 13, 14.

BOOK VII. PASSAGE A 299

to forbid them, may deign easily to pardon. So with
regard to this crime l which might have been brought
against your fathers as a deadly 2 offence — if at that
time they had been exposed, or brought to judgement
concerning it, they might have come to their own rescue
by alleging more than one example. For we read that
in the first times3 the Tables of the Law were broken,4
also that Books were given up or cut and burned,5
but that no one was condemned.

If (as I have just said) your fathers' deeds had then
been laid bare — if they could have been brought to judge
ment — without doubt they might have pleaded that
they had done no more than was done by Moses the
Lawgiver. Although necessity and free will have no
resemblance, but are contrary to one another, [yet] since
(so far as the legal name is concerned) there was the same
case for your fathers as for Moses, your fathers might
have said 6 that they, through necessity, did what Moses
had of his free will done first. In his indignation with
the people, he did not consider that God had written with
His own finger — and what has been written in heaven
is more than what has been written on earth — nor did he
reflect that what the Finger of God has written is not
the same 7 as that which has been written with a pen made
by the hand of a man, Moses carried what he had received
in the Cloud, and your fathers gave up what they had
made for payment. With reason, then, might your
fathers have defended themselves, arguing that it was not
a deadly 8 offence, if anyone of them had done, when

1 There is here an anacoluthon in the Latin.

2 capitate. 3 primis temporibus.

4 Cf. Ex. xxxii, 19 ; Deut. ix, 17. 5 vel incisi et incensi.

6 cum eodem nomine legis parentum vestrorum et Moysi una fuerit
caussa, possent diceve parentes vestri etc. Both Du Pin and Ziwsa
print a full stop after caussa, but this punctuation seems to obscure
the sense.

7 unum. 8 capitale.

300 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

terrified by an excessive fear, what Moses had done through
anger. Neither do we read that the Lord was wroth with
Moses, nor that He avenged those broken Tables which
He had written with His own Hand, nor that Moses was
termed a sinner or punished. The Law came from God
in the same way that water comes from a fountain, or that
fruit l is cut from a tree without injury to its root. That
which has been used 2 is not lost, provided that it is safely
preserved in its source.3 Similarly, Moses was not con
demned after he had scattered and broken to pieces4
the Tables of the Law. And subsequently he was called
back, went up Mount Sinai,5 was permitted to speak with
God, and received a second time the Law now renewed,
as has been disclosed by the title of the book, which in
Greek is called Deuteronomy.6 You see that in the Law
that which had been preserved safe in its Source was not
lost. But lest anyone should suppose that Moses had
merit in a certain boldness with God due to his converse
with Him, and that it was for this cause that God was
not displeased with him, and that, this being so, it was
fitting for friendship always to demand and receive its

1 poma.

2 quod erogatum est. 3 si in origine sua salvum est.
4 post tabulas sparsas legis et comminutas.

6 Cf. Ex. xxxiv, 2 ; Deut. x, i.

6 et secundum legem innovatam accepit, quam prodnt titulus Itbri,
qui Graeco vocabulo Deuteronomos scribitur. For prodnt Casaubon
conjectured prodidit. I have translated secundum as an adverb =
secundo, though for this it is hard to find authority. Ziwsa in his
index says that secundum is here a preposition, but it is very
difficult thus to get even fair sense. ' He received the renewed Law
in accordance with the Law ' hardly seems satisfactory. I am much
tempted to think that secundum is a mistake for secundam. The
reference to Deuteronomy makes this to me almost certain. (' The
very title Deuteronomy,' our author seems to say, ' bears witness
to the second Law.') But as secundam has no MS. authority, and
has occurred to no one else, I have not ventured to translate it in
the text. It is hardly necessary to say that in Greek Deuteronomy
means ' The Second Law.'

BOOK VII. PASSAGE A 301

reward and fruit — why then was he afterwards punished for
another offence ? Was it not to show that what he had done
in his wrath was a venial l offence ? The Law was safe in
God,2 even after it, together with the Tables of Stone,
had been broken by man ; whereas [on the other occasion]
through not rendering that reverence which was due from
man, Moses deserved the penalty of dying in the midst of
his journey, so that he entered not into the Land of
Promise3 — from which it is clear that something, which,
as in the present example,4 could escape without punish
ment,5 cannot be looked upon as a very great sin.

If this had been pleaded by your fathers, who could
have refused them communion ? And again, if they
had put forward instances, which followed afterwards,
in which we read of what happened when the renewed 6
Law was kept in the Ark, and the people of Israel were
conquered in battle. The Law, which by the advice of
the people 7 was borne in the Ark against the enemy,
could not be guarded by the priests themselves and by the
rest of the children of Israel, but far from being carried
away [in safety] was given up 8 to the enemy.9 When the
Law had been given up,8 those who had urged its being
brought forward fled away in panic, and we do not read
that they suffered any punishment in consequence. If
this example had been alleged10 by your fathers, who
would have been able to repel them from his communion ?
Again, (what would have happened) if your leaders had
not kept silence concerning those cases in which we read
that Baruch gave up to Judin the Scribe the book of the

1 leve. . 2 Cf. Rom. vii, 12.

3 Cf. Num. xx, 12 ; Deut. i, 37.

* in praesenti exemplo. Casaubon suggests in pvaecepta =
against the Commandments. But in praesenti exemplo means as
contrasted with the later offence of striking the rock.

6 inpune. 6 innovata lex. Cf. p. 300, note 6.

7 populomm. 8 tradita. 9 Cf. i Kings v, i.
10 haec ratio redderetur.

302 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

Law which he had received from the lips of Jeremiah the
Prophet, and that the king's chief men commanded both
Baruch himself, who had received the book, and Jeremiah,
through whom God had spoken, to escape and lie hid ?
Jeremiah dictated, Baruch surrendered — both fled. The
book was brought to Joachim the king. Now the king, in
consequence of the coldness of the season, had a brazier l
burning before him — so, as he was not pleased to hear the
book recited by Judin the Scribe, he at once tore it up
into small fragments 2 and consigned it to the flames.
And God was wroth neither with Jeremiah who fled, nor
with Baruch who fled with him and surrendered the book.
For if God had been wroth with them, He would have
spoken to some other Prophet. He did not speak to any
other, but to Jeremiah himself, for thus do we read :

' The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after the King
burned the chapter of the book3 and the words, which
Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah. God said to
Jeremiah : " Take to thyself another paper and write all thy
words, which were formerly written in the book, that was
burned by Joachim, king of Judah." ' *

So we see that neither was God wroth, nor did the
book which had been burned perish, nor was Baruch
punished, nor was Jeremiah disowned by God.5 From
this it is clear that something, which no punishment ever
followed, was at no time a serious fault.6 If your fathers
had alleged these examples, who could have rejected them
from communion ? So when God saw that the Tables
of the Law had been broken by Moses, and that the Ark
had been abandoned to its foes, and that the book of the
Law, after it had been given up by Baruch, was both cut
up and burned, He showed His Providence and promised

1 arulam ardentem.

z concisum minutatim. Cf. Jer. xxxvi, 19, 21.

3 capitulum libri. 4 Jer. xxxvi, 27, 28.

5 nee Hieremias a Deo contemptus est. ° grams culpa.

BOOK VII. PASSAGE A 303

that He would write the Law henceforward neither on
Tables nor in Books, but in the very inward parts of
man1 — that is, on the mind and heart of each believer,
even as He had written it in the heart of Noah, Abraham!
Isaac and Jacob and the other Patriarchs, who, without
the Law, certainly lived according to the Law.2 This is
proved by the blessed Apostle Paul, when he says :

' Written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the Living
God, not on Tables of Stone, but on the fleshy tablets of the
heart.' 3

After the Law had been broken by Moses, and abandoned
by the children of Israel to their enemies, and torn up
and burned (when offered by Baruch to Joachim the
king)— before the Christian times in which later on God
would write in a better way — God pointed out a law
through the Prophet, when He said :

' For this is My Covenant, which I will provide for the
house of Israel and for the house of Judah, and after those
days, saith the Lord, I will give My Laws and will write
them in their heart and in their minds.' *

This He promised long ago and has last of all fulfilled
in Christian times. Therefore the Book is now in the
second place ; in the second place are the parchments.5
If God wrote the Law there, where it could not be betrayed
— so that your fathers, who had already believed in the
Trinity, although they gave up the books, gave up neither
their own hearts nor minds, in which God, according to
His Promise, had already written His Law— on what
ground, my brother Parmenian, have you said that the
Law was completely burned by the Betrayers ? Behold,
neither has it been completely burned, nor has it been
wholly taken away, so long as it both remains in the

1 in ipso interiori homine. * legitime sine lege.

3 2 Cor. iii, 3. * Jer xxxij 33 (cf Heb X( I6}

8 secundo loco est charta, secundo loco membranae.

304 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

hearts of the Faithful, and thousands of books are every
where read aloud.1 From these considerations it is evident
that you have, though in ignorance, taken on you to
accuse your fathers in vain. If, therefore, it would have
been impossible to repel even your fathers from com
munion, had they at the time of Unity brought forward
so many examples which might have been reasonably
alleged, how much more impossible is it to reject you,
who are certainly not Betrayers, but the sons of Betrayers ;
since a distinction has to be made between both the persons
and the names of fathers and sons, and where the sin
has not been shared, there the same judgement cannot
be passed ?

Although if they had been brought into unity,2 and
had come to the Catholic Church of their own accord etc.3

1 librorwn milia ubique vecitantuv.

2 quamquam et si illorum unitas fterct, et si ad Ecclesiam
Catholicam sponte venissent, etc. Casaubon suggests that it should
be ' etsi illorum unitas fieret,' and that the si in next clause ought
to be omitted. If this emendation can be adopted, the transla
tion will be much easier.

3 (See page 276, line 22, for continuation.)

BOOK VII. PASSAGE B 305

B (see p. 279, line 3).

Nor would he have visited upon the fathers any
offences perchance committed by the sons. Since, there
fore, the Law was renewed in the times of Moses without
any man being punished, and the Ark of the Covenant
was freely restored by the enemy, and at God's command
a second book was written by Jeremiah,1 why is it
thought that your fathers alone committed a deadly 2 sin,
when they did something, on account of which, in so
many instances, no one was condemned ?

For if the Law was given for this purpose, that men
should be taught, not that the Law itself should be as
it were worshipped in the place of God, then, after your
fathers' sin, though individuals 3 lost their volumes 4
under the pressure of fear, yet the mass of the Faithful 5
suffered no loss. For the Law, which had been necessary, 6
still has its force7 amongst the teachers of the people
and the worshippers of God. The libraries are filled
with books. Nothing is wanting to the Church. In
different places 8 the divine praises are everywhere pro
claimed. The mouths of the lectors keep not silence. The
hands of all are full of volumes9 [of Scripture]. Nothing
is lacking to the people who wish to be taught — although
the law would not seem to have been written more for
the sake of teaching, than for that of the judgement to

1 Cf. Ex. xxxiv, 28 ; i Kings vi, 2 seq. ; Jer. xxxvi, 27 seq.

2 capitals. 3 unusquisque eorum.

4 codices suos. Codices, according to the original meaning of
the word in this connection, were vellum books, which in the course
of time had taken the place of rolls.

6 turba credentium. 6 quae necessaria fuerat.

7 valet. 8 per loca singula.
9 manus omnium codicibus plenae sunt.

3o6 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

come, in order that the sinner may know what may
befall him, should he not live rightly. Thus has it been
written, and thus do we read, that

' the Law has not been given for the just,'

because

' every just man is himself a law unto himself.' l

And in another place the blessed Apostle Paul also says
that the Law does not make men just, but itself loves
justice.2 It is results which are always looked for in all
those things that produce results.3 The Law, which
produces results, is not needed,4 when the result is obtained
in a quicker way.5 It was not said to Abraham : ' Believe,'
but he believed of his own accord 6 — so in him the result
of the Law was made complete without the Law. We do
not read :

' Abraham heard the Law and believed/
but we do read :

' Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for
justice.' 7

And in the earliest times the Patriarch Noah did nothing
by which he might become just, yet he as a just man was
chosen to build the Ark, in which during the Deluge 8
he might navigate the waters with success. It were a
long task to go through all the cases individually of all
who, without the Law, were found to be just.

2 Tim. i, 9 (cf. Rom, ii, 14).
Cf. Rom. iii, 10 ; Gal. ii, 16.

semper in omnibus rebus efficientibus effecta quaemntur .
vacat.

per compendium paratum est, quod efficitur (paratum est =
comparatum est) .

6 ultro.

7 Gen. xv, 6 (cf. Rom. iv, 3 ; Gal. iii, 6 ; James ii, 23).

8 Cf. Gen. vi.

BOOK VII. PASSAGE B 307

If these things had been pleaded by your fathers, who
would then have rejected them from his communion ?
Again, [what would have happened] if they had asserted
that what the Apostle says of those who are outside the
Law 1 ought not to be passed over in silence ?

' the nations, that know not the Law, do the things that
belong to the Law, for they have the Law written in their
hearts.' a

For many are known to have sinned with the Law,3
and many to have lived well without the Law. The Law
and Man are two things, but they cannot be on an equality,4
for Man was not made for the Law, but the Law was given
for the sake of men. I do not see that injury has any
where been done to God, so long as the source 5 of the
Law remains with Him. After the Scripture has been
given up — so it is said — by your fathers, it wants for nothing,
all the members of the Law are sound — are safe, and are
read aloud. There is, for those who desire to teach and to
be taught, nothing less than there was of the Law. Was
it then necessary for man to be slain rather than that
any Scripture should be given up ? Again., men have
not been slain, yet all the Scriptures are here without
diminution. The Law and God are not one and the
same thing. If they had had to die for God, who can both
raise up the dead and give reward, [well and good] ; but
a book that has not been surrendered cannot do even the
second of these two things.6

Therefore, necessity shackles [a man's] own strength
of will.7 We often see that carelessness is as disastrous

1 extralegalibus. 2 Cf. Rom. ii, 14. 3 in lege.

4 Lex et Homo duae res sunt, sed pares esse non possunt.
6 ori go.

6 liber non traditus de duobus his nee alterum potest. It seems
impossible to imagine that this trivial special pleading should be the
workofSt.Optatus.

7 impedit igitur necessitas vires suas. This is the reading of
the MSS. We understand homini. Casaubon suggests impendit.

308 PSEUDO-OPTATUS

as necessity. For if the parchments or the books, in which
the canonical l Scripture is contained, must be kept totally
unimpaired, why are not some careless people condemned ?
There is no wide gulf between giving up 2 and placing in
a bad situation, or treating badly. One man has placed
the book in a house, which has been burned down in a
fire. Let him be condemned, who carelessly placed the
book in that house, if another is to be condemned who
through fear gave up the book that he knew would be
demanded of him. Let them also be condemned, who
placed neglected parchments, or books, where they might
be gnawed by little household animals 3 (that is by mice)
in such a way that they could not be read. Let him be
condemned, as well, who has placed them in a part of the
house, where, in consequence of too great abundance of
rain, water has dropped through the eaves from the roof,
so that all the writing has been washed away by the wet,
and can no longer be read. Let those too be condemned,
who have been rash enough to entrust themselves, together
with the books of the Law, to the hungry waves of the
sea, and in their eagerness to save their lives, when in the
water, have let the Scriptures slip from their hands.
Accordingly if the Scripture be the same4 always, and, if
he who has not been able to save it, is guilty — then, one
has given it up to the waves, another has abandoned it to
rodents,5 another has carelessly allowed it to be spoiled
by the dropping water, and yet another, terrified by the
fear of death, has, as man, given it to man. If all have
done the same thing,6 why is one chosen out to be con
demned — and this, even though the fault of the Betrayer
is lighter than is that of him who has been careless ?
He who placed it in the way of mice, or left it under the
dropping water, with his will was careless, whilst he who
lost it in the river, sinned through rashness. He who
through the fear of death gave anything up, gave it as a

1 legitima. 2 trader e, 3 domes ti cae bestiolae,

4 una, 6 rosoribus bestiis. 6 unum.

BOOK VII. PASSAGE B 309

man to a man. It was whole whilst with the giver, it
remained whole in the hands of the receiver. If he who
received it, gave it up to the flames, this is the sin of the
one who burned it, not of him who surrendered it. If
these things had been urged by your fathers, how could
we have rejected them from our communion ? Or if
again they had thought well to refer to the times of King
Antiochus,1 when all the Jews were compelled to surrender
their Books to be burned, and the whole of the Scripture
was given up so completely that not a letter 2 remained
in any one book ? Not one of the Jews was then con
demned, nor was any sentence pronounced against any
Jew either by God or by some angel, because the sin was
his who commanded and threatened, not the people's
who surrendered with fearfulness and sorrow. And in
order that this Antiochus should do no injury to His
people in these early days,3 God immediately provided
for one man Esdras,4 who was called a Reader at the
time, to dictate the whole as it had been before, to the
minutest point.5 In this way the tyrant Antiochus was
not able to enjoy the fruit of his wickedness,6 since (with
the exception of the Seven Brothers and one old man
who refused to eat swine's flesh) 7 he killed no Jew, and
yet the Law could not be destroyed.8 In the same way
your fathers too in their day were not killed, and yet
all the books of the Law of the Lord are read aloud every
where. If, as I have urged above, your fathers had
pointed out these things, who would not have received
them into his communion without fear,9 since, as has been
said, their sin was a sin of necessity, not of the will 10 ?
Your fathers, who are proved, etc.11

Cf. i Maccab. i, 59.

apex. Literally a dot or accent or point.
primitive populo. * Cf. i Esdr. vii.

ad apicem. 6 malignitatis suae.

Cf. 2, Maccab. vii, 13. 8 lex perire non potuit.

intrepide. 10 peccaverat necessitas, non voluntas.

11 (For continuation see p. 279, line 4.)

3io PSEUDO-OPTATUS

C (see p. 279, 1. 16).

... for if one who has sinned, as did your ancestors, comes
to the Church to plead the necessity of his case, first of all
let him be received, and then sheltered 1 in the kindly bosom
of Mother Church.

Nor ought any man, etc.2

1 sustinendus.

2 (For continuation see p. 279, line 17.)

For three other probably spurious passages see p. 283, 1. 1-4 ;
p. 284, 1. 2-5 ; p. 287, 1. 21-22.

A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY SAYINGS OF
ST. OPTATUS

THESE extracts from the text of St. Optatus have, for
the most part, been chosen as noteworthy in consequence
of their statement of Doctrine ; some, however, have been
selected in consequence of their ethical value, e.g. Nos. 80,
81, 92, 93. The page references are to my English trans
lation and will give the context of each extract.

I. The Virginity of Mary

(1) Quae Virgo iterum peperit ? (Ill, n, p. 171, 1. 9, 10).

II. St. Peter, the Cathedra Petri and the Keys

(2) Ut haeretici omnes neque claves habeant, quas
solus Petrus accepit (I, 10, p. 19, line 4).

(3) Nee Caecilianus recessit a Cathedra Petri, vel
Cypriani, sed Maiorinus (I, 10, p. 20, 1. 22). Cf. Cathedra
Petri, quam nescio si vel oculis novit [Macrobius] (II, 4,
p. 70, 1. 4).

(4) Bene revocasti claves ad Petrum (I, 12, p. 24, 1. 19).

(5) Miltiadis sententia, qua iudicium clausum est
(I, 24, p. 47, 1. 5-7)-

(6) Negare non potes scire te in urbe Roma, Petro
primo Cathedram episcopalem esse conlatam, in qua
sederit omnium Apostolorum Caput Petrus, in qua una
Cathedra unitas ab omnibus servaretur, ne ceteri Apostoli
singulas sibi quisque defenderent, ut iam schismaticus
et peccator esset, qui contra singularem Cathedram alteram
conlocaret (II, 2, p. 66, 1. 7— p. 67, 1. 5). (Cf. 38.)

(7) Cathedram unicam, quae est prima de dotibus,
sedit prior Petrus, cui successit Linus etc. (II, 2, p. 68, 1. i).

(8) Cum quo Siricio [S. Petri successore] totus orbis

312 A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY

commercio formatarum in una communionis societate
concordat (II, 3, p. 69, 1. 25).

(9) Infer! portas suas habere noscuntur, contra quas
portas claves salutares accepisse legimus Petrum, principem
scilicet nostrum (II, 4, p. 73, 1. 4).

(10) Unde est ergo quod claves regni coelorum vobis
usurpare contenditis, qui contra Cathedram Petri vestris
praesumptionibus et audaci sacrilegio militatis ? (II, 5,
p. 73, 1. 10-12). (Cf. 50.)

(n) De dotibus Cathedra est prima, quam probavimus
per Petrum nostram esse, quae ducit ad se Angelum
(II, 6, p. 78, 1. 12, 13).

(12) Probatum est per Cathedram Petri, quae nostra est,
per ipsam et caeteras dotes apud nos esse (II, 9, p. 86, 1. 6).

(13) Huius sanctae Ecclesiae est constituta Persona
(II. 9, p. 86, 1. 19).

(14) Lectio de persona beatissimi Petri, ex qua forma
unitatis retinendae vel faciendae descripta recitatur
(VII, 3, P- 283, 1. 14).

(15) Bono unitatis beatus Petrus et praeferri Apostolis
omnibus meruit et claves regni coelorum, communicandas
ceteris, solus accepit (VII, 3, p. 284, 1. u).

(16) Stant tot innocentes, et peccator accipit claves,
ut unitatis negotium formaretur (VII, 3, p. 288, 1. 29-
p. 289, t. 2).

(17) Provisum est, ut peccator aperiret innocentibus, ne
innocentes clauderent contra peccatores (VII, 3^.289, 1.3-4).

(18) Cathedram Petri et claves a Christo concessas,
ubi est nostra societas, poteris adprobare mendacium ?
(VII, 5, p. 294, 1. 14-17-)

(Cf. 61.)

III. The Church

(19) Ignoras et quae sit Sancta Ecclesia, et sic omnia
miscuisti (I, 10, p. 23, 1. 1-3).

(20) Sic fit hominum Pater Deus, sancta sic fit Mater
Ecclesia (II, 10, p. 89, 1. 1-2).

SAYINGS OF ST. OPTATUS 313

(21) Quattuor genera capitum in Ecclesia episcoporum,
presbyterorum, diaconorum et fidelium (II, 24, p. 112,

I- 1-3).

(22) Est spiritalis Sion Ecclesia, in qua a Deo Patre
constitutus est Rex Christus, quae est in toto orbe terrarum,
in quo est una Ecclesia Catholica (III, 2, p. 127, 1. 26-28).

(23) Non enim Respublica est in Ecclesia, sed
Ecclesia in Republica (HI, 3, p. 132, 1. 13, 14).

(24) Ecclesia Catholica omnes filios Pacis gremio et
sinu suo complectitur (III, 10, p. 166, 1. 14, 15).

IV. The Unity of the Church

(25) Deinde mihi dicendum est quae, vel ubi sit una
Ecclesia ; quae est, quia praeter unam altera non est
(I, 7, p. 14, 1. 8-n).

(26) Christus, qui est Sponsus unius Ecclesiae, cum
unam laudat ceteras damnat, quia praeter unam, quae est
vera Catholica, ceterae apud haereticos putantur esse, sed
non sunt (I, 10, p. 18, 1. 9-12).

(27) lamdudum duas Ecclesias conparare voluisti . . .
certe una est, quae ex voce Christi meruit indicari, qui
ait : ' Una est Columba Mea, una est Sponsa Mea ' (II, 13,
p. 92, 1. 10-18).

(28) Aestimo vos non negare unitatem summum
bonum esse (III, 4, p. 149, 1. n, 12). (Cf. 43.)

(29) Domus Dei una est ... quia non est alter Deus,
qui alteram domum inhabitet (III, 10, p. 165, 1. u-p. 166,

1.2).

(Cf. 22, 32, 33, 34> 35, 40, 46, 85.)
V. The Church Catholic

(30) Venerunt ut pronunciarent ubi esset Catholica . . .
Novissima sententia eorundem Episcoporum Eunomii et
Olimpii talis legitur, ut dicerent illam esse Catholicam quae
esset in toto orbe terrarum diffusa (I, 26, p. 50, 1. n, 12).

(31) Probavimus earn esse Ecclesiam Catholicam, quae

314 A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY

est in toto orbe terrarum diffusa (II, 2, p. 64, 1. u, 12 ;
and II, 9, p. 86, 1. ig-p. 87, 1. i).

(32) Offerre Deo vos dicitis pro una Ecclesia, quae sit
in toto orbe terrarum diffusa (II, 12, p. 90, 1. 17, 18).

(33) Gaudet totus orbis de Unitate Catholica (III, o,
p. 161, 1. 8).

(34) In una Communione esse cum toto orbe terrarum,
numquid poteris adprobare mendacium ? (VII, 5, p. 294,
1. 10-12).

(Cf. 22, 38, 52.)

VI. The Holiness of the Church

(35) Ecclesia una est cuius sanctitas de Sacramentis
colligitur, non de superbia personarum ponderatur (II, i,
P- 57, I- 9-P- 58, 1. i).

VII. The Catholic Church anterior to every Schism

(36) Ut Moyses prior est, sic et Catholica prior est
(VII, 5, p. 295, 1. 9). (Cf. 50.)

VIII. The Root

(37) [Scismatici] deserta matre Catholica, impii filii
dum foras exeunt, et se separant (ut vos fecistis) a radice
Matris Ecclesiae (I, n, p. 23, 1. 10-14).

(38) Videndum est quis in radice cum toto orbe
manserit, quis foras exierit, quis Cathedram sederit alteram,
quae ante non fuerat (I, 15, p. 30, 1. 19, 20).

(39) Propter nos qui intus habitamus, et nunquam de
radice recessimus (III, 7, p. 155, 1. 2-4).

(40) De una radice venientes ab invicem divisi sunt
rami (III, 9, p. 161, 1. 25, 26).

(Cf. 52.)

IX. Heretics

(41) Haeretici . . . de se nasci voluerunt (I, 12, p. 24,
1. 1-6).

(42) Ecclesia apud omnes haereticos et scismaticos
esse non potest (II, i, p. 58, 1. 3).

SAYINGS OF ST. OPTATUS 315

X. The Evil of Schism

(43) Scisma summum malum esse et vos negare
minime poteritis (I, 21, p. 39, 1. 13-15). (Cf. 28.)

(44) Factio, quae mater est scismatis (II, 4, p. 71, 1. 18).

(45) Intellegite vos esse filios impios, vos esse ramos
fractos ab arbore, vos rivum concisum a fonte (II, 9,
p. 85, 1. 5, 6).

(46) Hoc ipsum mendacii pars est, unam [Ecclesiam] te
vocare, de qua feceris duas (II, 12, p. 90, 1. 18 — p. 91, 1. 2).

(47) Quid si unicuique vestrum dicat Deus : ' Quid
offers pro tota, qui non es in tota ? ' (II, 12, p. 91, 1. 5-7).

(48) Pars vestra quasi-Ecclesia est, sed Catholica non
est (III, 10, p. 167, 1. 6, 7).

(49) Revera sufficiebat sibi Ecclesia Catholica, . . .
sed Deo vestra separatio non placebat (VII, I, p. 275, 1. 15-
p. 276, 1. 3).

(50) lamnes et Mambres secundo loco sunt, qui contra
Moysen et veritatem militare voluerunt. Antecesserat
Moyses. Ut lamnes et Mambres repugnantes obstiterunt,
sic et vos rebelles contra veram Catholicam militatis
(VII, 5, p. 295, 1. 4-12). (Cf. 10.)

XI. The Donatist Schism

(51) Scisma igitur illo tempore confusa mulieris ira-
cundia peperit, ambitus nutrivit, avaritia roboravit (1, 19,
p. 34, 1. 1-4).

XII. The Donatist Perversion of History and of Facts

(52) Mutans personas et transferens merita clausisti
oculos, ne parentes tuos reos agnosceres, . . . Omnia
igitur, quae a te in traditores et scismaticos dici potuerunt,
vestra sunt, nam nostra non sunt, qui et in radice manemus,
et in toto orbe terrarum cum omnibus sumus (I, 28, p. 55,
1. 3-P- 56,1. 16).

3i6 A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY

(53) Legist! quidem, sed, ut res se habent, intellegere
noluisti, studio criminandi ad convicium Catholicorum
cuncta conponens, multum ad arbitrium tuum declinare
conatus es (IV, 9, p. 199, 1. 13-18).

(54) Quid est ergo quod nomina et nobis et vobis mutare
voluistis ? (VII, 5, p. 295, 1. 12-14).

XIII. Baptism

(55) Baptisma Christianorum, Trinitate confectum,
confert gratiam ; si repetatur, facit vitae iacturam (V, i,
p. 206, I. 7-9).

(56) Bene laudasti Baptisma. Quis enim Fidelium
nesciat singulare Baptisma virtutum esse vitam, criminum
mortem, nativitatem immortalem, coelestis regni conpara-
tionem, innocentiae portum, peccatorum naufragium ?
(V, I, p. 208, 1. 12-17).

(57) Si datis alterum Baptisma, date et alteram Fidem ;
si datis alteram Fidem, date et alterum Christum ; si datis
alterum Christum, date et alterum Deum (V, 3, p. 216,
1. 1-4).

(58) Agnoscite quia non lavat homo, sed Deus . . .
Sordes enim et maculas mentis lavare non potest nisi Deus,
qui eiusdem fabricator est mentis (V, 4, p. 221, 1. 12-20).

(59) Aderit profecto ille dies, ut caelestes nuptiae
incipiant celebrari ; illic qui Baptisma singulare serva-
verint, securi discumbent (V, 10, p. 243, 1. 17-20).

XIV. The Sacrifice of the Eucharist

(60) Erat altare loco suo, in quo pacifici Episcopi retro
temporis obtulerant (I, 19, p. 36, 1. 12-p. 37, 1. 2).

(61) Ecce praesentes sunt ibi [Romae] duorum Memor
iae Apostolorum. Dicite si ad has ingredi potuit, aut obtulit
illic, ubi Sanctorum Memorias esse constat (II, 4, p. 71,
1. 1-4).

(62) Quo cotidie a vobis sacrificia condiuntur (II, 12,
p. 90, 1. 13-15)-

SAYINGS OF ST. OPTATUS 317

(63) Quid iniquius quam altaria frangere ? (II, 21,
p. 108, 1. 9-10).

(64) Vinum a peccatoribus operariis et calcatur et
premitur, et sic inde Deo sacrificium offertur (II, 4, p. 149,

I- 15-17).

(65) Dicebatur enim, illo tempore ventures Paulum et
Macarium, qui interessent sacrificio, ut cum altaria solem-
niter aptarentur, proferrent illi imaginem, quam primo in
altareponerent, et sic sacrificium offerretur (III, 12, p. 173,
1. 11-16).

(66) Cum viderent divinis sacrifices nee mutatum
quidquam, nee additum nee ablatum (III, 12, p. 174,
1. 9-n).

(67) In quibus ante nos per longa temporum spatia
obtulistis (VI, i, p. 248, 1. 10-11).

(68) Macarius nee manum alicui imposuit, nee sacri
ficium obtulit (VII, 6, p. 176, 1. 12).

(Cf- 32, 47-)

XV. The Real Presence

(69) Altaria, in quibus et vota populi et Membra
Christi portata sunt (VI, I, p. 246, 1. 6, 8).

(70) Quid est altare nisi sedes et Corporis et Sanguinis
Christi ? (VI, i, p. 247, 1. 4, 5).

(71) Quid vos offenderat Christus, cuius illis per
certa momenta Corpus et Sanguis habitabat ? (VI, I,
p. 248, 1. 5 7).

(72) Illic Corpus Christi habitabat (VI, i, p. 248,
1. 12, 13).

(73) ludaeos estis imitati ; illi iniecerunt manus
Christo in cruce, a vobis percussus est in Altari (VI, i,
p. 248, 1. 15-17)-

(74) Fregistis calices, Christi Sanguinis portatores
(VI, 2, p. 252, 1. 4, 5).

318 A HUNDRED NOTEWORTHY

XVI. Chrism

(75) Oleum nominant— ilium scilicet liquorem, qui ex
Nomine Christi conditur, quod Chrisma, postquam conditum
est, nominatur (VII, 4, p. 289, 1. 17 — p. 290, 1. i).

(76) Oleum, antequam a nobis conficiatur, tale est
quale et natum est ; confectum suavitatem ex nomine
Christi accipere potest (VII, 4, p. 291, 1. 11-14).

(77) Chrisma sedem Spiritui Sancto parat ut invitatus
illic libenter habitare dignetur (VII, 4, p. 292, 1. 8-12).

XVII. Varia

(78) Cunctos nos Christianos Omnipotenti Deo una
Fides commendat (I, i, p. i, 1. i-p. 2, 1. 2).

(79) Cum dotes ad sponsam, non sponsa ad dotes
pertineat (II, 10, p. 89, 1. 19, 20).

(80) Meliora inventa sunt peccata cum humilitate,
quam innocentia cum superbia (II, 20, p. 105, 1. 19, 20).

(81) Frustra se Christianum aut Dei sacerdotem
profitetur, qui Lenitatem Dei non curat imitari (II, 25,
p. 116, 1. 16, 17).

(82) Quae maior infelicitas, quam Dei sacerdotes
vivere, nee esse quod fuerant ? (II, 25, p. 117, 1. 24, 26).

(83) Non quaerebat aliud, quod humana semper exigit
consuetude de pluviis, de pace, de proventu anni aliquid
interrogare ; sed illius ad singulos quosque venientes haec
erant verba : ' Quid apud vos agitur de parte Mea ? '
(III, 3, p. 138, 1. 15-19).

(84) Si hominum litigant mentes, non litigant Sacra-
menta (III, 9, p. 162, 1. 16, 17).

(85) Quis Gabriel iterum ad alteram Mariam locutus
est? (HI, n, p. 171, 1. 8, 9).

(86) Possessio Dei est turba Fidelium (IV, 6, p. 192,
1. 19).

(87) In Deo perennis Maiestas exundat (IV, 9, p. 199,
1. 27).

SAYINGS OF ST. OPTATUS 319

(88) Vivus, cuius est testamentum, in coelo est, ergo
voluntas Eius, velut in testamento, sic in Evangelic
requiratur (V, 3, p. 212, 1. 11-13).

(89) Cum ergo videatis Sacramento, per se esse sancta,
non per homines, quid est, quod vobis tantum vindicatis ?
(V, 4, p. 220, 1. i, 2).

(90) Intellegite vos sacramentorum ministros, vel sero,
operarios esse non dominos (V, 7, p. 233, 1. 13, 14).

(91) 0 Tunica semper una et immutabilis ! quae
decenter vestiat et omnes aetates et formas, nee in infan-
tibus rugatur, nee in iuvenibus tenditur, nee in feminis
immutatur (V, 10, p. 243, 1. 13-16).

(92) Suspicio non est idoneum crimen (VI, 3, p. 254,
1- 4, 5).

(93) Servate vobis suspiciones vestras (VI, 3, p. 254,
1. 8).

(94) Stabularius ille Paulus Apostolus (VI, 4, p. 257,
1. 12).

(95) Haec sunt verba Consilii, nee ulla sunt Praecepta
coniuncta (VI, 4, p. 258, 1. 14).

(96) In Ecclesia non est similis turba animarum
(VII, 2, p. 281, 1. 3).

(97) lussit Christus in agro Suo per totam orbem
terrarum, in quo est una Ecclesia, et Sua semina crescere
et aliena (VII, 2, p. 282, 1. 1-5).

(98) Tractandi, quod est Episcoporum (VII, 6, p. 176,
1. 18).

(99) Omnis tractatus in Ecclesia a Nomine Dei incipitur
et eiusdem Nomine Dei terminatur (VII, 6, p. 176, 1. 25,
26).

(100) Scriptum est ante cognitam caussam neminem
esse damnandum (VII, 7, p. 178, 1. 4).

PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX

ST. OPTATUS makes several references to the documents
which he tells us that he was appending to his work,
in order fully to establish the accuracy of his state
ments. For example, with regard to the Council at
Cirta, which was the beginning of all the evil subse
quently to be known as Donatism, he appeals to the
evidence afforded by the writings of Nundinarius
the Deacon, and to the Acts of the Council, which—
so he says —

' dubitantibus proferre poterimus, harum namque
plenitudinem rerum in novissima parte istorum libellorum
ad implendam fidem adiunximus ' (i, 14).

In the same way he states (i, 20) that he is appending
the letter, in which the Bishops who were responsible
for the consecration of Majorinus brought their
charges against Caecilian. Again, with regard to the
decrees of Eunomius and Olimpius he is able to write
(i, 26) :

' De iis rebus habemus volumina actorum, quod, si
quis voluerit, in novissimis partibus legat.'

These decrees have been lost. But we have still
extant (in their entirety or in part) most of the docu
ments which were placed in his Appendix by St.
Optatus.

322 PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX

The Colbertine MS. (C) has alone preserved for
us any part of this Appendix. Moreover we possess
this MS. in a very incomplete state. It commences
only with the middle of the Sixth Book, and at the
end of the Seventh we read :

' Expliciunt Sancti Optati Episcopi Libri Numero VII
vel Gesta Purgationis Caeciliani Episcopi et Felicis Ordina-
toris Eiusdem. necnon Epistola Constantini Imperatoris.
Amen.'

But unfortunately there are many pages wanting
between the Gesta Purgationis Caeciliani and the
Gesta Purgationis Felicis — so that Duchesne writes
that at least as much of the Gesta Purgationis Caeciliani
has been lost as yet remains, perhaps double or treble
or possibly even more.1 With regard to the Gesta
Purgationis Felicis comparatively little is missing,
though the account of the inquiry before the Pro-Consul
Aelianus starts somewhere in the middle.2

Duchesne has carefully reconstructed the Appendix
of St. Optatus,3 and shown that it probably contained
the following documents :

I Acta Purgationis Caeciliani

(1) Gesta apud Zenophilum.

(2) Acts of Cirta.

(3) Synodal letter of Donatist Council at Carthage
against Caecilian (lost).

(4) Letter of Pro-Consul Anulinus to Constantine.

1 Le dossier du Donatisme, p. 9.

2 The famous scholar Stephen Baluze published (in 1680) the
Gesta apud Zenophilum and Acta Purgationis Felicis in his
Miscellanea (Lib. II).

3 Le dossier du Donatisme, p. 42.

PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX 323

(5) Supplication of Donatists (in Optatus i, 22).

(6) Letter of Constantine to Miltiades.

(7) Report of Anulinus to Constantine (lost).

(8) Acts of Roman Council (nearly all lost : a fragment
in Opt. i, 23, 24).

(9) Letter of Constantine to Eumelius (lost).

(10) Proceedings of Eunomius and Olimpius in Africa
(lost).

II A eta Purgationis Felicis

(n) Letter of Constantine to Aelius (or Aelianus ?)
(lost).

(12) Letter of Constantine to Probianus.

(13) Acta Purgationis Felicis (the beginning lost).

III Epistola[e] Constantini Imperatoris

Probably, however, the collection of Optatus did
not contain the letter of the Council of Aries (though
it is found in C), since we find no reference to it
in his work.

Of these documents, i, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 have been
quoted or analysed by St. Optatus and St. Augustine ;
4 and 12 have been reproduced in their entirety, and
9 in part, by St. Augustine only ; 10 was known to
St. Optatus only. All these documents, with the
exception of i and 10, were put in and read at the
Conference at Carthage in 411.

I give, in the first place, a translation of everything
that we still find in C.

We have part of the two interesting trials — of
Felix of Aptunga (the consecrator of Caecilian) on the
one side and of Silvanus (one of the consecrators of
Majorinus) on the other. By these documents con
siderable light is thrown upon several details of Roman

Y 2

324 PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX

judicial procedure in Africa during the early years
of the fourth century. There are also six letters of
Constantine ; a short document consisting of a joint
letter from officials named Petronius and Julianus ;
and the well-known synodal letter sent by the Council
of Aries, at the conclusion of its labours, to Pope
Silvester. These letters have been printed in their
chronological order. In each case I have thought it
well to prefix a short introduction.

With regard to my translation, perhaps I may
be permitted to crave the indulgence of my readers.
The great Emperor's sentences (as at least they appear
in his letters) are of extraordinary length and com
plexity, with parenthesis heaped upon parenthesis,
so that the task of disentangling them in such a way
as to make their meaning intelligible in English,
without the sacrifice either of grammar or of verbal
accuracy, is one of no small difficulty, as anyone who
may make the attempt will discover for himself.

Ziwsa is satisfied with printing these ten documents,
but I have also translated and printed the others
of St. Optatus' original collection which still remain
extant. They are :

xi. — (a) The Acts of the Council of Cirta (to be found
nearly complete in Augustine con. Crescon. iii, 30).

xii. — (b) Letter of Anulinus to Constantine (of which
the text has been preserved in Augustine Ep. Ixxxviii, 2).

xiii. — (c) Letter of Constantine to Miltiades (to be
found in Eusebius, H.E. x, 5).

xiv. — (d) Letter of Constantine to Probianus (entire
in Augustine con. Crescon. iii, 81).

I give also two official letters (xv, xvi) from

PREFACE TO THE APPENDIX 325

Constantine to the Pro-Consul Anulinus, which have
been preserved by Eusebius, and throw considerable
light on the Emperor's attitude towards Catholics
and Donatists respectively at this time (A.D. 313).

In addition to the documents which Duchesne
shows to have been contained in the Appendix of
Optatus, the following were quoted either by St.
Augustine or by the Donatists at the Conference of
Carthage (A.D. 411).

(1) Acts of seizure of Sacred Books at Rome in 303
(lost).

(2) Acts of Donatist Martyrs of Abilina (Migne,
P.L. viii, 689-703).

(3) Letters of Mensurius and Secundus (lost).

(4) Proces-verbal of the restitution of the Holy Places
in Rome to Pope Miltiades by order of the Emperor
Maxentius (lost).

(5) The two letters of Constantine preserved by Eusebius
(x, 5, 7), which I have printed and numbered xv, xvi.

(6) Three letters of Constantine (lost).

(7) Supplication to Constantine by Donatists, com
plaining of persecution (lost).

(8) Letter of Constantine to Verinus, May 5, 321 (lost) .

APPENDIX

ACTA PURGATIONIS FELICIS EPISCOPI
AUTUMNITANI

INTRODUCTION

THE scene of the events described in this document — of
which unfortunately a large part is missing — was Carthage.
The date is A.D. 314. It is, therefore, exactly sixteen
hundred years since Constantine, fresh from his victory
over Maxentius and full of zeal for the welfare of the religion
which he had so recently embraced, gave orders for the
charge of Betrayal brought so persistently against Felix,
Bishop of Aptunga, to be heard publicly on the spot —
that is to say in Africa. It was indeed notorious that
there was no real ground for this charge. But to the
Donatists it was a matter of life and death that the truth
of their accusation against the consecrator of Caecilian
should be substantiated, or at any rate generally accepted.
Otherwise any attempt to justify their schism broke down
of itself. When the matter was gone into at Rome under
Pope Miltiades, it had been admitted that no accusation
was made against Caecilian personally.1 The whole

1 ' Illo tempore a tot inimicis nihil in eum [Caecilianurn] potuit
confingi ; sed de ordinatore suo, quod abillis falso traditor diceretur,
meruit infirmari ' (Opt. i, 19).

328 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

question really concerned Felix. Consequently Caecilian
was declared at Rome to be the rightful Bishop of Carthage,
and the legates Eunomius and Olimpius promulgated the
Roman decree at Carthage itself. Still the Donatists
remained obstinate, and represented to Constantine that
their case had not been fairly heard, but that the judges
had shut themselves up and given their verdict without
any regard to the weight of evidence.1 Thus it came to
pass that a certain Alfius Caecilianus 2 was ordered to go
before the Proconsul's court at Carthage, there to give an
account of a former investigation of this same matter which
had been held at the time when he was himself duovir.
He was told to bring with him the men who had been
his secretary and notary respectively. The name of the
Proconsul before whom the trial was to be heard was
Aelianus. With Aelianus were at least three commissioners
or assessors (though their name of duovirs seems to us
somewhat quaintly out of keeping with this fact), Gallienus,
Fuscius and Sisenna.

The case heard at Rome had direct reference to
Caecilian. Now, the case of Felix was to be examined anew,
without any reference to Caecilian, on its own merits.3
We shall see that Aelianus required the Acts of the
former African trial to be produced and read in extenso.
Alfius Caecilianus, in consequence of his age, had been
excused from going to the Imperial Court and had made
a deposition before the duovir Aurelius Didymus Speretius.
It was shown that the letter upon which the Donatists
relied to convict Felix had been interpolated (or rather

1 Cf. letter of Constantine, p. 385.

2 For the sake of clearness I have called the Bishop Caecilian ;
the official Caecilianus.

8 ' Sed quia in ipsa caussa iamdudum in Catholica duorum
videbantur laborare personae, et ordinati et ordinatoris ; postquam
ordinatus in Urbe purgatus est, et purgandus adhuc remanserat
ordinator ' (Opt. i, 27).

APPENDIX—I 329

added to) by a certain Ingentius. This Ingentius was
secretary to one Augentius, who had been fellow-aedile with
Caecilianus. After these Acts had been read the counsel
Apronianus insisted on questioning Caecilianus, who ex
plained in some detail his dealings with Ingentius.

Ingentius had falsely represented that Felix had told
him that he had certain valuable codices in his possession —
and that their owner now wanted them back — so would
Ingentius obtain a letter from Caecilianus stating that
they had been burned when he was duovir ? Thus Felix
would be able to steal the codices ! Had Caecilianus given
the letter, as requested, it was to have been used as a proof
that Felix had been a Betrayer. It was an ingenious plot ;
but it failed. At first Caecilianus would not write anything.
In the end Ingentius induced Augentius to persuade
Caecilianus to write a letter of some kind. This letter has
been almost wholly lost, but it is clear that from the point
of view of Ingentius it was quite unsatisfactory, as it con
tained nothing which would have been of any value for his
purpose. So Ingentius forged the interpolation, which had
been read out at the previous trial. Caecilianus swore
that this interpolation was a forgery, and indeed it could
not possibly be genuine, since it consisted of an addition
(after the original conclusion) purporting to relate a con
versation with Felix, who was absent from home at the
time. It represents him as giving up the Scriptures
privately to a friendly official. This was meant to
explain why there was no public proof available of Felix's
fall.

The evidence was all against Ingentius, who had to
confess to the forgery, under fear of torture. But he tried
to make out that he committed his crime through love for
a certain Bishop Maurus, who was charged with simony.
It was shown, however, that, notwithstanding his oaths to
the contrary, he had been an envoy of the Donatist faction
throughout Numidia and Mauritania, so that it became

330 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

clear that the calumny had been invented in the interests
of party.

Thus was Felix finally and triumphantly vindicated.

The Donatists, who styled themselves ' the Pure/
were conscious of being themselves Traditores. It was
partly in order to cover up their own guilt that they
invented the quite baseless charge against Felix, the con-
secrator of Caecilian Bishop of Carthage.1 That charge
once formulated, the next step was to argue that all who
communicated with Caecilian — ' polluted ' by Betrayal —
were themselves ' polluted,' even though this conclusion
might involve the whole Catholic world in apostasy
from Christ. All this has been made clear in the pages of
St. Optatus.

The document now before us has vivid touches of
dramatic interest, where various scenes are described, as
they took place, with much actuality. Sometimes, it
must be admitted, we cannot well refrain from asking our
selves how far, with regard to details, play is being given
to the exercise of the imagination. But as to the central
fact of the innocence of Felix there can be no question, nor
as to the justice of the verdict which Optatus tells us was
delivered in his favour.2 Whoever else may have behaved
discreditably, against Felix of Aptunga there was no
evidence.

1 ' . . . ut crimina in silentium mitterent sua, vitam infamare
conati sunt alienam ' (Opt. i, 20).

2 ' A supra memorato proconsule haec pars sententiae dicta
est : " Felicem religiosum Episcopum liberum esse ab exustione
librorum manifestum est, cum nemo in eum aliquid probare poterit
. . . Hoc actis continetur quod Felix illistemporibus neque praesens
fuerit, neque conscientiam accommodaverit, neque aliquid tale
fieri iusserit." Unde pulsa atque extersa infamia, cum ingenti
laude de illo iudicio recessit ' (Opt. i, 27).

APPENDIX— I 331

THE ACTS OF THE VINDICATION OF FELIX, BISHOP OF
APTUNGA * (THE CONSECRATOR OF CAECILIAN, BISHOP
OF CARTHAGE) BEFORE AELIANUS, PROCONSUL OF
AFRICA, AT CARTHAGE, DURING THE CONSULATE OF
VOLUSIANUS AND AUNIANUS.2

. . . 3 In the town 4 of Autumna, Gallienus the Duovir
said :

' Since, Caecilianus, you are here present, listen to the
letter of my lord, the Right Honourable 5 Aelius Paulinus,
acting deputy of the Prefect,6 in which, according to his
letter addressed to us, he has deigned to command that you
and the secretary whom you employed during the period
of your administration, and the notary 7 should make a
declaration. But, inasmuch as the notary of that time has
departed this life, you will have to bring with you all the
Acts of your administration, in compliance with the require
ments of the letter of my Lord, and you will have to go
with your secretary to Carthage. The Curator is present.
In his presence we charge you, what answer do you make
to this ? '

Caecilianus said :

' As soon as you handed to me the letter of the Right
Honourable Aelius Paulinus, acting deputy of the Prefect,
I sent immediately to my secretary Miccius to come and
bring me the Acts which were set down at that time, and
he is still searching for them. For no small space of time
has passed since I held the office of Duovir. It was eleven

1 Episcopi Aptungitani , of Aptunga, or Autumna.

2 Du Pin's heading.

3 The early part of the MS. is lost.

* in municipio. Municipiutn is a self-governing township,

5 viri spectabilis. A title, showing the precise rank — equivalent
to our Right Honourable.

6 agentis vicaviam praefecturam. 7 tabularium.

332 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

years ago. So, as soon as he has found them, I will obey
a command of such high dignity.'

Gallienus the Duovir said :

' It is to your interest to obey the command, for you see
that it is sacred.1 '

Caecilianus said :

' I have due devotion to a command of such great
dignity.2 '

Then when, a little time after, the secretary Miccius
had also arrived, Fuscius the Duovir said :

' Have you too, Miccius, heard that you also have to
go with Caecilianus to the office of the Right Honourable
Deputy, and bring there with you the documents concerning
that time ? What have you to say to this ? '

Miccius answered :

' The magistrate, when his year of office was completed,
took all his Acts home with him. ... I am searching to
see whether the wax tablet can be found among them.3 '

And whilst he was searching, Quintus Sisenna the
Duovir said :

' He has answered according to what the Court already
knows/

Apronianus said :

' If the magistrate took away all his Acts, whence
can we procure the Acts which were then made or put
together at a time of so great importance ? '

1 iussionem esse sacram, i.e. the Emperor's.

2 devotus sum tanto praecepto.

3 The MS. has si mei in cera possint inveniri inquire. This is
plainly corrupt. Baluzius suggested si in eis cera possit. This
emendation is accepted by Ziwsa,

APPENDIX— I 333

And, when he said this, Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Both my questions and the answers of the various
persons are contained in the Acts.'

Agesilaus said :

' There are besides other letters, necessary for the
understanding of this affair. It is of importance that they
should be read.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Read them in the hearing of Caecilianus, that he
may know whether he dictated them.'

Agesilaus read aloud l :

During the consulate of Volusianus and Annianus, on the
nineteenth of August, in a lawsuit before Aurelius Didymus
Speretius, priest of mighty Jupiter, duovir of the magnificent
colony of the Carthaginians, Maximus said :

' I speak in the name of the seniors of the Christian people
of the Catholic Law.8 The case must be pleaded before the
Supreme Emperors against Caecilian and Felix, who strive
their utmost to attack the supremacy of that Law.3 The
proofs of the charges against them in this matter are being
searched for. When persecution was proclaimed against the
Christians, that is to say, when they were required to offer
sacrifice, or betray whatever Scriptures they might have, to be
burned, Felix, who was then Bishop of Autumna, had given his
consent for Scriptures to be given up by the hand of Galatius,
that they might be committed to the fire. And at that time
Alfius Caecilianus, whom you may observe here present, was
a magistrate, and since it was then his duty to see that, in
accordance with the proconsular command, all should sacrifice,
and that, in accordance with the Imperial law,4 they should
hand over any Scriptures they might possess, I ask him, since

1 Here begin the Acts of the former trial.

2 Catholicae Legis. Cf. Opt. i, n : ' Catholicam facit simplex
et vcrus intellectus in Lege.'

8 principatum eiusdem Legis. * secundum sacram legem.

334 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

he is here * and you see he is an old man and cannot go to the
Imperial Court, to make his deposition in the Acts as to whether
he gave (as is stated in the Acts 2) a letter in accordance with
an agreement which he had already made, and as to whether
the statements which he has made in the letter are true — so
that the actions and the truthfulness of these persons may be
set forth in the trial before the Emperor.'

Speretius the Duovir said to Caecilianus who was present :
' Do you hear what are the depositions in the Acts ? '
Alfius Caecilianus said :

' I had gone to Zama with Saturninus to buy linen gar
ments,3 and when we arrived there, the Christians themselves
sent to me in the praetorium to ask " Has the Emperor's
ordinance reached you ? " I answered " No, but I have
already seen copies, and have seen churches destroyed and
also Scriptures burnt at Zama and Furni. So if you have any
Scriptures, bring them forth, that the Emperor's command
may be obeyed." Then they sent to the house of the Bishop
Felix to bring out the Scriptures from there, that they might
be burnt in accordance with the Emperor's decree. So
Galatius went with us to the place where they had been
accustomed to celebrate their prayers. We took out the Chair
and the letters of salutation,4 and afterwards 5 all were burnt
in accordance with the Emperor's decree. And when we sent
to the house of this Bishop Felix the public officials informed
us that he was not there. And when, at a later time,6 Ingentius

1 The MS. has secundum sens est. Deutsch (Drei Aktenstucke
zuv Geschichte des Donatismus. Berlin, 1875) supplies [quod prae]-
sens.

2 secundum. Deutsch supplies A eta. Ziwsa accepts these two
emendations. Evidently something is lacking.

3 propter lineas comparandas. Possibly it may mean ' to
compare the lines of the document.'

4 cathedram tulimus, et epistolas salutatonas. It has been thought
that these were letters of St. Paul. The point seems rather to be
that they were ordinary, not sacred, letters, and as such not of an
incriminating character.

5 postea, an emendation for ostia.

6 i.e. many years afterwards.

APPENDIX— I 335

arrived — the secretary of Augentius, with whom I was aedile —
I dictated to that x colleague the letter which I wrote to
this Bishop Felix.'

Maximus said :

' He is here.2 Let this letter be shown him, that he may
recognise it.'

He answered :
' It is the one.'

Maximus said :

' Since he has recognised his own letter, I shall read it, and
ask that it be inserted in the Acts in full.'
And he read it aloud :

' Caecilianus to his father Felix, health ! Inasmuch as
Ingentius has approached my colleague Augentius his friend,
and asked whether, in accordance with the Emperor's com
mand, any Scriptures of your Law were burnt in the year when
I was aedile 8 . . . my friend Galatius, a Christian,4 publicly
brought forth letters of salutation from the Basilica. I wish
thee good health.

' This 5 is the proof that the Christians and the owner of
the praetorium had written to entreat my mercy — that you
said " Take the key and take also whatever books you may
find upon the Chair and whatever codices there may be upon
the stone. But see, I beg you, that the officials do not take
away the oil and wheat." 6 And I said to you " Are you
unaware that where Scriptures are found, the house itself is
pulled down ? " And you said " What then are we to do ?"
And I said to you " Let one of your people take them out into
the court where you make your prayers, and let them be placed
there. And I will come with the officials and take them away.'

eidem collegae (i.e. Ingentius).
i.e. Caecilianus, who had just finished speaking.
Here there is a lacuna. The greater part of the letter is lost.
ex lege vestra.

At this point, after the usual conclusion, commences the
forgery of Ingentius.
6 oleum et triticum.

336 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

And we all went there and took everything away in accordance
with the Emperor's command.'

Maximus said :

' Since the reading of his letter, which he has acknow
ledged that he sent, has been placed upon the Acts, we ask
that his words should remain upon the Acts.'

Speretius the Duovir said :

' What you have said has been written down.' 1

Agesilaus said :

' With regard to the present letter which he has recog
nised, he says that the last part which has just been read
is a forgery.'

Caecilianus said :

' My lord, I dictated up to the point where we find the
words " My dearest father, I wish thee good health."

Apronianus said :

' Always has it been so, that those who have refused
to adhere to the Catholic Church, have acted thus
treacherously, by terrorising, by acting a pretence, by anti-
religious bent.2 For when Paulinus was Vice-prefect here,
a man without official position was suborned to act the
part 3 of a courier, that he might go to those who belong
to the Catholic unity,4 and ensnare and terrify them.5
And now the conspiracy6 has been discovered. For a
lying story was made up against the most holy Bishop
Felix, so that it might appear that he had betrayed and
burnt the Scriptures. It was in fact Ingentius (since his

Here the reading ceases, and the later trial proceeds.

per terrorem, per scaenam, per inreligiosam mentem.

modum (= speciem, formarri). The MS. has modicum.

Catholicae unitatis.

eos induceret et terreret.

factio (cf. Optatus ii, 4 : ' factio quae mater scismatis est ').

APPENDIX— I 337

whole line of conduct was opposed to the holiness and
religion of Caecilian) who was suborned to come with a
letter that purported to be from Felix the Bishop to
Caecilianus the Duovir, and pretend to him that he was
commissioned by Felix. Let him give us the very words
in which this story was concocted.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :
1 Tell us.'

Apronianus said : [' Ingentius spoke in this way to
Caecilianus :] " Tell my friend Caecilianus/' said Felix
to me, " that I received [from somebody] eleven precious
divine codices, and, as he is now demanding 1 of me to
restore them, say that you 2 burnt them in your year of
office, so that I need not return them to him." 3 For this
reason Ingentius must be questioned as to the manner in
which these designs were manufactured and fabricated,
as to how he strove to lead his master to tell lies, that
he might bespatter Felix with infamy. Let him tell us
by whom he was sent, but if this plot against the good name
of Felix, by which he might do injury to the episcopal
character 4 of Caecilian from its commencement. . .5 For
there is a certain person 6 who was sent by the other side 7
as ambassador through Mauritania and Numidia.'

1 convenit me, a frequent late use of convenire, = ' he is calling
upon me to.' He is the owner of the codices.

2 i.e. Caecilianus.

3 Apronianus is quoting here the actual words in which Ingentius
is said to have reported to Caecilianus the actual words supposed
to have been used by Felix.

* pudori et initio, Pudori is manifestly corrupt. Possibly the
right reading may be innocentiae. Initio = the source of his
episcopate.

5 There is here a lacuna. Ziwsa suggests paraverit, but as this
is only a guess, I have left the sentence incomplete.

8 quidam, i.e. Ingentius himself, who had been a Donatist agent
(cursor}.

7 ex diversa parte, i.e. by the Donatists.

338 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

In the presence of Ingentius, Aelianus the Proconsul
said :

' At whose bidding did you undertake to do these things
that are brought against you ? '

Ingentius said :
' Where ? '

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' As you pretend not to understand what you are asked,
I will speak more plainly. Who sent you to the magistrate
Caecilianus ? '

Ingentius said :
' No one sent me/

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' How was it then that you went to the magistrate
Caecilianus ? '

Ingentius said :

' When we had arrived and the case of Maurus, a Bishop
from Utica, who bought his bishopric,1 was being tried,
Felix, the Bishop of Autumna, came up to the city to
preach,2 and said " Let no one communicate with him,
for he is guilty of fraud.3 " And I, on the other hand,
said to him " Let no one communicate with you any more
than with him,4 because you are a Betrayer." I was
grieving over the case of Maurus my guest, since I had
communicated with him when I was abroad — for I escaped
from the persecution. From it 5 I went into the country
of Felix himself and took with me three seniors, that

1 qui Episcopatum sibi vedemit. 2 ut tractaret.

8 quid falsum admisit. Falsum =fraud — in this case, simony.

4 nee tiU nee illi. 5 exindet i.e. from the persecution.

APPENDIX— I 339

they might see whether in truth he had been a Betrayer
or not.'

Apronianus said :

' It is not so. He went to Caecilianus. Ask Caecilianus
about it/

Aelianus the Proconsul said to Caecilianus :
' How was it that Ingentius came to you ? '

Caecilianus answered :

' He came to me at home. I was at dinner with the
workmen.1 He came in and stood in the doorway.3
" Where is Caecilianus ? " said he. I answered " Here."
I said to him " What is it ? Is all right ? " " Everything,"
said he. I answered him " If you are not too proud to
dine, come and have dinner." He said to me "I am
coming back." He came alone. He began to tell me that
he wanted me to look into the matter and inquire whether
the Scriptures had been burnt in the year when I was Duovir.
I said to him " You annoy me. You are a man who has
been suborned.3 Be off with you. Take yourself away
from me." And I spurned him from me.4 And he came
yet a second time together with my colleague with whom
I had been aedile.5 My colleague said to me " Felix,
our Bishop, sent this man here that you might give him
a letter, because he has received precious codices, and is
unwilling to give them back. Write for him that they were
burnt in the year when you were Duovir." And I said
" Is this the faith of Christians ? "

Ingentius said :

' My lord, let Augentius also be called, for I too have

1 prandebam cum operarios (accusative for ablative, as not
unusual in this kind of Latin) (cf. p. 341, n. 2).

" stetit in ianua. 3 homo immisus es.

1 sprevi ilium a me. 5 i.e. Augentius.

z 2

340 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

held honourable office.1 [If you listen to this story] it
will be all over with my honour, and . . .' 2

Aelianus the Proconsul said to Ingentius ;
' You are convicted on another ground.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said to an officer :
' Strip and bind him.' 3

And when he was made ready, Aelianus the Proconsul
said :

' Let him be drawn up.' 4

And while he was being drawn up on the rack, Aelianus
the Proconsul said to Caecilianus :

' Under what circumstances did Ingentius come to
you ? '

He answered :

' " Our friend Felix," so he spoke, " sent me here that
you should write to him, since there is an abandoned man
who is the owner of some most precious codices which are
in his possession, and he is unwilling to restore them. So
— that they may not be claimed back — write that they
were burnt." And I said to him " Is this the faith
of a Christian ? " Then I began to rebuke him. But my
colleague said " Write thither to our friend Felix." And
so I dictated the letter which lies before you, up to the place
that I have pointed out.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Listen without fear to the reading of your letter. See
how far you dictated/

1 et ego honorificus sum (I too have held public office — honor —
and so am as worthy to be believed as Caecilianus).

! ' et huius latera habemus.' These words follow in the MS.
They seem hopelessly corrupt.

3 apta eum.

4 suspendatur (i.e. on the rack, ready for torture),

APPENDIX— I 341

Agesilaus read out :

' " . . . I wish you, my dearest father, good health for
many years."

Aelianus the Proconsul said to Caecilianus :
' Did you dictate as far as this ? '

He answered :

' As far as this. The rest is a forgery.'

Agesilaus read aloud [the remainder of the letter] :
" This is the proof that the Christians and the owner of
the praetorium had written to entreat my mercy, and that
you had said 1 ' Take the key and take also whatever books
you may find upon the Chair and whatever codices there
may be upon the stone. But see, I beg you, that the officials
do not take away the oil and the wheat.' And I said to
you ' Are you unaware that where Scriptures are found
the house itself is pulled down ? ' And you said ' What
then shall we do ? ' And I said to you ' Let one of your
people take them out into the halls where you make your
prayers, and let them be placed there. And I will come
with the officials 2 and take them away.' And we went
thither, and took everything away as we had arranged,3
and burnt it in accordance with the Emperor's command." '

Maximus said :

' Since there has also been placed upon the Acts the
purport of this letter, which he himself said that he had
acknowledged and sent, we ask that this should be set down
on your Acts.'

1 I have corrected the text here from the copy of the letter
already given (p. 335) . The MS. has ' hoc signo quod deprecatorium
ad me misisti, nisi ego et tu et cuius est praetorium et dixit,' which
is clearly corrupt and, as it stands, untranslatable.

2 cum officiates (cum with accusative).

3 secundum placitmn — as had been arranged between us.

342 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Speretius said :

' What you have said has been written down.'

Caecilianus answered :

' It is a forgery from that point. It is my letter up
to where I said " My dearest father, farewell."

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Who do you say added to the letter ? '

Caecilianus said :
' Ingentius.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Your statement is set down in the Acts.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said to Ingentius :

' You shall be tortured to prevent your telling lies.'

Ingentius said :

' I have sinned. I did add to this letter, through my
grief on account of Maurus my guest.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Constantine Maximus ever Augustus, and Licinius,
Caesars, deign to" show such favour to Christians as to
be unwilling that their discipline should be corrupted ; on
the contrary, they are determined that this religion should
be observed and respected. Do not, therefore, flatter
yourself that, because you tell me that you are a worshipper
of God, on this account you cannot be tortured. You
shall be tortured, that you may not tell lies — a thing which
is thought to be foreign to Christians. So tell the truth
frankly, that you may not be tortured.'

Ingentius said :

' I have already confessed without torture.'

APPENDIX— I 343

Apronianus said :

' Be pleased to ask him by what authority, by what
craft, by what madness he went through all the districts
of Mauritania and also of Numidia, and by what means he
stirred up sedition against the Catholic Church.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Have you been to the Numidias ? '

He answered :

' No, my Lord. Let anyone prove it who can.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :
' Nor to Mauritania ? '

He answered :

' I was there on commercial business.'

Apronianus said :

' In this he lies, my Lord, for it is impossible to travel
to Mauritania, excepting through the Numidias. Now he
says that he was in Mauritania, but not in Numidia.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said to Ingentius :
' What is your rank ? '

Ingentius answered :

' I am a decurion of the Ziquenses.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said to the officer :
' Lower him.' 1

1 submitte ilium. Ingentius had been ' prepared ' (stripped and
bound) and then hung up on the equuleus, ready for the screws to be
turned. When Aelianus hears he is a decurion, he has him lowered.
We learn from St. Augustine (con. Cresc. iii, 70) that Ingentius
was prepared for torture, but not actually tortured, because he
said that he was a decurion. Submitte corresponds to suspend atur

344 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

When he had been lowered, Aelianus the Proconsul
said to Caecilianus :

' You have given false evidence.'

Caecilianus answered :

' Not so, my lord. Command the attendance of him
who wrote the letter. He is his friend. He will tell you
to what point I dictated the letter.'

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Who is it whom you wish to have here ? '

Caecilianus said :

' Augentius, with whom 1 was aedile. It is only through
the evidence of Augentius himself who wrote the letter,
that I can prove my case. He can tell you to what point
I dictated to him/

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Is it then certain that the letter is a forgery ? '

Caecilianus answered :

' It is certain, my lord. In my blood I do not lie.' l

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Since you held the office of Duovir in your country
we ought to give credence to your words.'

Apronianus said :

' It is no new thing for them to act in this way. They
have added what they pleased to the Acts. It is a trick
of theirs.'

(supra). Aelianus is for the moment favourable to Ingentius, and
turns upon Caecilianus : 'Your evidence was false.' Still, as we shall
see immediately, he recognises that, as an ex-duovir, Caecilianus is
more to be trusted than Ingentius, who was only a decurion !
Moreover, Ingentius had actually confessed.
1 non mentiov in sanguine meo.

APPENDIX— I 345

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Through the evidence of Caecilianus, who tells us that
the Acts have been falsified, and many additions made to
his letter, the purpose of Ingentius in doing these things
has been made clear. So let him be committed to gaol,
for we shall require him for stricter examination. More
over, it is manifest that Felix the holy Bishop has been
cleared from the charge of burning the Divine writings, since
no one has been able to prove anything against him to show
that he gave up or burned the most sacred Scriptures.
For through all the evidence, it has been made clear on
the interrogatories that no Divine Scriptures were either
discovered or corrupted or burnt by him. It is shown by
the Acts that Felix the holy Bishop was neither present when
these things were done, nor was privy to them,1 nor did he
order anything of the kind.' 2

Agesilaus said :

' What does your lordship order to be done with these
witnesses, who came to give evidence to your lordship ? '

Aelianus the Proconsul said :

' Let them go back to their homes.'

1 conscientiam accommodaverit, lit. ' gave his privity to it ' =
allowed the thing to be done with his knowledge.

2 The italicised words are quoted by St. Optatus textually (i, 27) .
Cf. p. 55-

APPENDIX—II

GESTA APUD ZENOPHILUM

(INTRODUCTION.)

IT is A.D. 320, six years after the vindication of Felix of
Aptunga, and another trial is proceeding. Time has amply
brought her revenge. Now the accusation is no longer
against the consecrator of Caecilian the Catholic Bishop
of Carthage, but against Silvanus the Donatist Bishop of
Cirta, the consecrator of Majorinus, who had been intruded
into Caecilian's Chair. In this trial it is conclusively proved
that Silvanus and his abettors had been guilty not merely
of Betrayal — the sin falsely alleged against Felix and
Caecilian, as a pretext for abandoning communion with
Caecilian — but also of theft and simony under peculiarly
disgraceful circumstances.

St. Optatus, in his description of the commencement of
the Donatist schism, has mentioned the name of the Deacon
Nundinarius, the editor of the Acts of the Bishops who,
in the year 303, met at Cirta to elect a successor to the
recently deceased Bishop of that city.1 When the citizens
of Cirta heard that Silvanus had been chosen to be their
chief Pastor — Silvanus, a man of bad reputation, who was
well known to them as a Traditor — they cried out
' Traditor est, alius fiat. Purum et integmm civem nostrum
volumus.' The clergy also protested against this election,
but Silvanus was supported by a noisy mob of the lowest

1 Cf. Opt. i, 13, 14.

APPENDIX— II 347

rabble, and consecrated Bishop by the notorious Secundus
of Tigisis. One of the first acts of Silvanus after his conse
cration was to ordain a certain Victor. This Victor, in
order to be made a priest, paid a large sum of money to
Silvanus, which Silvanus on his part promptly distributed
amongst Secundus and the other Bishops who had taken
part in his own consecration. (Such was the character
of the shameless men, who were so soon, for their own
purposes, to precipitate the Donatist schism by their
consecration of Majorinus in opposition to Caecilian.)

Now these facts were well known to Nundinarius the
Deacon. It was therefore an evil hour for Silvanus, leading
him into much trouble, when, for some reason unknown
to us, he violently quarrelled with Nundinarius. Other
guilty Donatist Bishops, especially the terrible Purpurius l
and a certain Fortis, were greatly alarmed when the news
of this quarrel reached their ears, and wrote to Silvanus,
and to their party in Cirta, that it was imperative that
a reconciliation should be effected between Silvanus and
Nundinarius. Means must be found to hush the matter
up, lest worse things befall them. Evidently it would
be too deplorable if it were to be publicly proved that they
had been themselves guilty of crimes far more shameful
than anything with which they falsely reproached the
Catholic Bishops. But it was all to no purpose. Nundi
narius was, in the end (though he seems to have wavered
for a while), not to be appeased. Catholics called out for
a public investigation. It was granted, and followed
in due course before Zenophilus.

Throughout the proceedings Nundinarius proved the
case against Silvanus with merciless precision. There was
first the evidence of an inhabitant of Cirta — a certain
Victor, a grammarian. As this Victor tried at first to
screen Silvanus, there were read aloud municipal Acts
recorded during the persecution when Munatius Felix was

1 Cf. Opt. i, 13 : ' Homicida Purpurius Limatensis ' etc.

348 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Curator. From these it became clear that Silvanus had in
deed been a Betrayer, and Victor had to admit this, though
he tried to save himself by denying that he was present
when it all happened. Then the compromising and dis
creditable letters were read, from which it was seen how
much Purpurius and Fortis dreaded exposure. No doubt
they were afraid that Nundinarius might denounce them,
as already he had denounced Silvanus in a libellus of accusa
tion, which had been addressed to all the clergy and elders
of Cirta, and was read in full before Zenophilus. Further
more, witnesses were produced who told the old story of
the events that took place at the consecration of Silvanus,
which proved him to have been guilty of Betrayal and
Simony. It was also shown that he and Purpurius, as
well as other Donatists, had been guilty of thefts from the
Temple of Serapis. Further evidence was given which
proved that the Numidian Bishops (now Donatists) had
received money from Lucilla, in order that Majorinus might
be consecrated rival Bishop of Carthage in opposition to
Caecilian, and that they had kept it all for themselves,
though part of it at least was intended by its donor for the
poor.

Most of these Proceedings are extant, but the judgement
is wanting. It is, however, certain that Silvanus was
banished by Zenophilus for Betrayal,1 for robbing the
Treasury of vinegar casks, for taking money for Ordination,
and for having been himself made Bishop by violence, of
all of which crimes he had been proved guilty in the course
of these Proceedings.

1 St. Augustine writes thus of Silvanus (con. Cresc. iii, 30) :
' Qui cum Traditor fuisset, permanere etiam haereticus voluit, ut
falsum honorem in parte Donati haberet, qui habere in Catholica
nullum posset tarn manifestis Traditionis suae gestis publico iudicio
referatis.'

APPENDIX— II 349

THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE ZENOPHILUS.

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE
ZENOPHILUS, BY WHICH IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT

SlLVANUS, WHO WITH OTHERS CONSECRATED MAJO-

RINUS, THE PREDECESSOR OF DONATUS, WAS A

BETRAYER.1

In the consulship of Constantine Maximus Augustus
and Constantine the younger the most noble Caesar, on
the thirteenth of December, (Sextus of Thamagudi being
the secretary,) 2 after Victor the Grammarian had been
brought in and sworn,3 Nundinarius the deacon also being
present, Zenophilus, a most noble man of consular rank,4
said:

' What is your name ? '

He answered :
' Victor.'

Zenophilus said :

' What is your station in life ? '

Victor said :

' I am a lecturer in the literature of Rome, a Latin
grammarian.'

1 Du Pin's heading.

8 There is evidently something wanting here in the MS . scribente
has been suggested. Also excipiente.

3 inducto et applicito. Cf . Exod. xxii, 8 : ' si latet fur, dominus
domus applicdbitur ad deos, et iurabit quod non extenderit manum
in rem proximi sui.'

* vir darissimus consularis. These words are always repeated
after Zenophilus in the text. We shall omit them henceforth in the
translation, as the repetition in English would be merely wearisome.

350 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Zenophilus said :

' What is your rank ? '

Victor said :

' My father was a decurion of Cirta. My grandfather
was a soldier. He had seen service at court.1 For our
family is of Mauritanian blood.' 2

Zenophilus said :

' Be mindful of your honour and character, and tell
me with simplicity — what was the cause of the dissension
amongst Christians ? '

Victor said :

' I do not know the origin of the dissension. I am one
of the Christian people. However, when I lived at Carthage
and the Bishop Secundus 3 had at length arrived there,
they are said to have discovered that Caecilian had been
wrongfully 4 made a Bishop, by whom I know not ; and
they set up another in opposition. From that time for
ward the dissension at Carthage began, but I cannot know
its origin fully, for our city always has one church,5 and if
dissension there was, we know nothing about it.'

1 in comitatu. Comitatus is the regular name for the Court of
the Emperor. There are several instances in the fourth and fifth
centuries of Canons of Carthage enacted against Bishops going ad
comitatum — i.e. to curry favour at Ravenna.

2 Victor was evidently in the Moorish Guard.

8 Of Tigisis. St. Augustine often mentions him, speaking of him
as Primate of Numidia, and telling us that he presided at the Council
of Cirta.

4 non recte.

5 quoniam semper civitas nostra unam Ecclesiam habet. There was
at this time only one Bishop at Cirta. But at the time of the first
Conference of Carthage there were two Bishops there, Fortunatus
sometimes called Fortunatianus (the Catholic) and Petilianus (the
Donatist) — both of whose names figure amongst the eighteen elected
Actores. We find that Petilianus complained that another Catholic

APPENDIX— II 351

Zenophilus said :

' Are you in communion with Silvanus ? '

Victor answered :
' I am.'

Zenophilus said :

' Why then have you passed over that man 1 whose
innocence has been cleared 2 ? ' And added : ' Besides,
it is stated that you know something else with the fullest
certainty — that Silvanus is a Betrayer. Own to this.'

Victor replied :
' This I know not.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius the Deacon :
' Victor says that he does not know that Silvanus is
a Betrayer.'

Bishop named Delphinus (who was too ill to attend the Conference)
was living ' in the middle of his Diocese.' St. Augustine tells us
(Ep. cxxxix) that this Delphinus had been sent to Numidia by his
fellow-Bishops on account of the needs of the Church. At the
Conference of Carthage there was a passage of arms between
Fortunatus and Petilianus. When the latter heard the name of the
former read aloud, he cried out ' Ipse est persecutor Ecclesiae in
eadem civitate ubi ego Episcopus sum.' To which Fortunatus was
not slow to retort ' In eadem civitate ab haereticis omnia altaria
confracta sunt ' (Gesta Coll. Carthag. diei i, Ixv ; cxxxviii, cxxxix)
— so that there was not always harmony at Cirta.

1 intermisso eo. This has been taken as referring to Caecilian.
But these proceedings were not at Carthage, but in Numidia, so
that eo probably should be understood of Felix of Aptunga.

2 cuius innocentia purgata est. For purgata Masson reads probata
— but wrongly (cf . Coll. tert. Carthag. cap. dlxxi : ' Donatistarum
prosecutio, qua dicunt praesentem Felicem debuisse purgari ' ; and
cap. dlxiv : ' Prosecutio Catholicorum, maioris esse innocentiae
documentum, quod absens purgatus est Felix ') . St. Augus ine also
uses pur gar e in this sense (cf. Ep. clxii and Contra Cresconium
Grammaticum iii, lxi)r

352 ST. OPT AT US AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Nundinarius the deacon said :

' He knows quite well, for * he himself gave up the
codices/

Victor answered :

' I had fled from that storm— and if I lie, let me perish.
When we suffered the inrush of sudden persecution, we
fled to Mount Bellona.2 I remained there with Mars the
deacon. Victor the priest was there also. When this
Mars was ordered to give up all the books, he said that he
had not got them. Then Victor gave up the names of all
the lectors. They came to my house in my absence. The
magistrates went in and carried off my codices. When I
got back, I found that the codices had been taken away.'

Nundinarius the deacon said :

' But at the public investigation you answered that
you gave up the codices. Why deny things that can be
proved ? '

Zenophilus said to Victor :

' Acknowledge frankly, that you may not be questioned
with greater severity.' 3

Nundinarius the deacon said :
' Let the Acts be read.'
Zenophilus said :
' Let them be read.'

Nundinarius then gave them, and the notary read
aloud :

' In the consulate of Diocletian the Eighth, and Maximinian
the Seventh, on the nineteenth of May, from the Acts of

1 nam. So Ziwsa. The MS. has non. Masson reads num

2 Near Cirta.

3 i.e. that you may not be put to the torture.

APPENDIX—II 353

Munatius Felix the perpetual flamen, the guardian of the colony
at Cirta.

' When they came to the house in which the Christians
were accustomed to assemble, Felix the flamen and guardian
of the state said to Paul the Bishop :

" Bring out the Scriptures of the Law,1 and anything else
that you may have here, as has been commanded, that you
may obey the order."

' Paul the Bishop said :

" The lectors have the Scriptures. But we surrender what
we have here."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Paul the Bishop :

" Show us the lectors or send to them."

' Paul the Bishop said :

" You all know them."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said :

" We do not know them."

' Paul the Bishop said :

" The public officers know them — that is Edusius and
Junius, the notaries."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state
said :

" Let the matter of the lectors stand over. They will be
pointed out by the public officers. Do you surrender what
you have."

' In the presence of Paul the Bishop (who remained seated),
of Montanus and Victor of Deusatelium, and Memorius priests,
Mars and Helius the deacons, Marcuclius, Catullinus, Silvanus
and Carosus the subdeacons standing by with Januarius,
Meraclus, Fructuosus, Migginis, Saturninus, Victor and the
rest of the grave-diggers,2 Victor of Aufidus made this brief
inventory against them.

1 Legis (sc. Catholicae). Cf. Ada Purgationis Felicis, p. 333.

2 fossoribus. The fossores or grave-diggers were recognised
Christian officials.

354 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

' Two golden chalices, also six silver chalices, six silver pots,1
a silver chafing vessel* seven silver lamps, two torches,9 seven
short brass candlesticks with their lamps, also eleven brass candle
sticks with their chains, eighty-two women's garments, thirty-
eight veils* sixteen men's garments, thirteen pair of men's shoes,
forty-seven pair of women's shoes, eighteen pattens for the country.'5

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Marcuclius, Silvanus and Carosus the grave-diggers :
" Bring forth whatever you have."
' Silvanus and Carosus said :
" All that was here we have thrown out."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Marcuclius, Silvanus and Carosus :

" Your answer is set down in the Acts." 8

' After the cupboards in the bookcases had been found
to be empty,7 Silvanus brought forth a silver casket 8 and a
silver candlestick, for he said that he had found them behind
a jug.9

' Victor of Aufidus said to Silvanus :

"Had you not found these things, you were a dead man." 10

1 urceola. 2 cucumellum. 3 cereojala. * mafortea.

5 coplas rusticanas. 6 responsio vestra actis haeret.

7 posteaquam in bibliothecis inventa sunt armaria inania. So the
MSS. St. Augustine, however, referring to the passage, reads
' Posteaquam apertum est in bibliothecam ' (con. Cresc. iii, 29)
and again ' Posteaquam perventum est ad bibliothecam ' (ibid, iv, 56).
From these two passages Masson made up his reading, accepted by
Du Pin, Posteaquam perventum est in bibliothecam. But, as Baluzius
points out, the old reading may well stand, for bibliotheca here
probably means bookcase. Thus Possidius in his life of St. Augustine
(chapter xxxi) writes : ' Una cum bibliothecis libros.'

8 capitulata. St. Augustine twice gives us the word ' capitulata '
(Ep. clxv ; con. Cresc. iii. 29) ; but once (con. Cresc. iv, 56) for. capi-
tulatam he substitutes capsulam. Capsa is a box (e.g. for MS. rolls).

9 post orcam. St. Augustine quoting this passage (con. Cresc.
iii, 29) reads arcam.

10 St. Augustine mentions this in three places (Ep. clxvii ;
contra Cresc. iii, 29, and iv, 56).

APPENDIX— II 355

'Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Silvanus :

" ?€Sru\m°re carefully' lest anything else should have
been left behind.

Silvanus said :

'And when the dining-room 2 was opened, there were
iound in it four casks 3 and six jugs.4

said FeHX tllG Perpetual flamen and life'guardian of the state

" Bring forth whatever Scriptures you have, that we may
bey the precepts and commands of the Emperors."
' Catullinus brought forth one very large codex.

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Marcuclius and Silvanus :

''Why have you given us only one codex ? Bring forth
the Scriptures which you have."

' Catullinus and Marcuclius said :

" We have no more, for we are sub-deacons, but the lectors
have the codices."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Marcuclius and Catullinus :

" Show us the lectors."

' Marcuclius and Catullinus said :

" We do not know where they live."

1 quod hie fuit, totum hoc eiecimus. A colloquialism for ' Hoc
quod eiecimus totum est.'

2 triclinium. It is interesting to see that there was a dining-
room attached to the church.

3 dolia.

orcae.

2 A 2

356 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state
said to Catullinus and Marcuclius :

" If you do not know where they are living, tell us their
names."

' Catullinus and Marcuclius said :

" We are not Traitors,1 behold we are here. Order us to
be killed."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said :

" Let them be taken into custody."

' And when they came to the house of Eugenius, Felix the
perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said to Eugenius :

" Bring forth the Scriptures which you have, that you
may obey the decree."

' And he brought forth four codices.

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Silvanus and Carosus :

" Show us the other lectors."

' Silvanus and Carosus said :

" The Bishop has already told you that the notaries
Edusius and Junius know them all. Let them point out their
houses to you."

' Edusius and Junius said :

" We will point them out to you, my lord."

' And when they came to the house of Felix, the worker in
marbles, he brought forth five codices. And when they came
to the house of Victorinus, he brought forth eight codices.
And when they came to the house of Projectus, he brought
forth five large and two small codices.

* And when they came to the house of Victor the Gram
marian, Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state
said to him :

i Proditores, as contrasted with Tvaditoves. They said that
they might ' betray ' (tradere] books, but they were no traitors to
give up (prodere) their fellow -men.

APPENDIX— II 357

" Bring forth whatever Scriptures you have, that you may
obey the decree."

' Victor the Grammarian brought forth two codices, and
four quinions* Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of
the state said to Victor :

" Bring forth the Scriptures. You have more."

' Victor the Grammarian said :

" If I had more, I would have given them."

' And when they came to the house of Euticius of Caesarea,
Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said to
Euticius :

" Bring forth the Scriptures which you have, that you may
obey the decree."

' Euticius said :
" I have none."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Euticius :

" Your statement is set down in the Acts."

' And when they came to the house of Coddeo, his wife
brought forth six codices.

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state then
said :

" Look and see whether you have not got more. Bring
them forth."

1 quiniones. Quinio, i.e. a gathering of five leaves. Most
MSS. are formed of quaternions, i.e. of four leaves doubled, the
smooth face of one to smooth face of the other, hair face to hair
face. Usually the outside is hair face. In quinions and tevnions
it was necessary to have them alternately hair and smooth face
outside. (The codices may have been of papyrus ; but they are
almost sure to have been of parchment, as papyrus was dearer and
very brittle. Codices came into frequent use in the course of the
third century, and paper rolls quickly became unusual. The old
ones soon disappeared, as from eighty to a hundred years was a
long life for a roll.)

358 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

' The woman said :
" I have no more."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Bos the public official 1 :

" Go in and search whether she has not any more."

' The public official said :

" I have searched and have not found anything else."

' Felix the perpetual flamen and guardian of the state said
to Victorinus, Silvanus and Carosus :

" If anything has been kept back, the danger is yours." '

After these things had been read, Zenophilus said to
Victor :

' Now confess without more ado.'

Victor answered :
' I was not there.'

Nundinarius the deacon said :

' We have seen letters to Bishops written 2 by Fortis.'

And he read out a copy of the accusation delivered to
the Bishops 3 by Nundinarius the deacon.4

' Christ is witness and His Angels, that they with whom
you have been in communion have been Betrayers — that is

1 Bovi servo publico.

2 epistulas Episcoporum ( = letters belonging to Bishops) facias
a Forte.

3 legit exemplar libelli traditi Episcopis a Nundinario diacono.
The words exemplar libelli traditi Episcopis are wanting in the MS.,
no doubt through the carelessness of a copyist. They have been
supplied from St. Augustine (con. Cresc. iii, 29). The MS. for legit
has legitur, and it is thus printed by Ziwsa. Libellus is often used
of a petition (e.g. those of heretics to Popes, or of Catholics to Popes
against heretics), but it also often means a bill of accusation, as
here.

4 i.e. by himself.

APPENDIX— II 359

to say, Silvanus of Cirta is a Betrayer, and a thief of the goods
of the poor — a thing which all of you Bishops, priests, deacons,
eiders, know to be true concerning the four hundred pieces of
money,1 that were given by the noble woman Lucilla,2 for the
sake of which you conspired together that Majorinus might
be made Bishop, whence came the schism. For Victor the
fuller gave twenty pieces of money,3 to be made priest, in your
presence and in that of the people, as Christ knows and His
angels.'

And a copy of a letter 4 was read aloud :

' Purpurius,5 the Bishop, to his fellow Bishop Silvanus —
Health in the Lord ! Nundinarius the deacon^ our son, has
come to me and has begged of me to send this letter of suppli
cation to your Holiness, that, if it be possible, there may be
peace between you and him. For I wish this to be done in
writing by you, if you are willing, in order that no one may
know what is going on between us, so that I may alone be
concerned with you in this present matter, and may bring to
a conclusion 6 the dissension between you. For he has handed
to me a petition written by his hand concerning the affair,
on account of which, by your command, he was degraded.7

1 de quadringentis follibus. Ducange tells us that follis was
' genus monetae, apud Byzantines potissimum.' He does not
specify its relative value.

2 Cf. Optatus i, 16 ; cf . S. Aug. Ep. clxii ; con. Parmen. i, 3.

3 folles viginti. 4 exemplum epistulae.

5 Purpurius of Limata in Numidia. St. Optatus accused him
(i, 13), on the strength of the Acts of the Council of Cirta, of having
murdered his sister's sons. These Acts have been preserved by
St. Augustine (contra Cresconium iii, 27), where we read as follows :
' Secundus said to Purpurius of Limata : " It is said that you killed
the two sons of your sister at Mile vis." Purpurius answered him :
" Do you think that I am terrified by you, like the rest ? . . .
I did kill them, and I kill those who act against me. So do not
provoke me to say more ! " (Vide p. 418.)

6 amputem.

7 lapidatus. So St. Augustine understands it. But may it
not perhaps be understood literally of stoning ? Silvanus, no doubt,
like Purpurius himself, was capable of anything.

360 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

It is not right * for a father to chastise a son against the truth,
and I know that the things which were written in the bill of
accusation that was handed to me are true. Search for a
remedy by which this ill-will may be extinguished before the
flame burst forth which it may not be possible afterwards
to extinguish without the spiritual shedding of blood. Call
together your fellow clerics and the elders of the people who
belong to the Church,2 and let them carefully inquire what are
these dissensions of yours, that whatever is done may be done
according to the precepts of the Faith. You shall not decline
to the right hand nor to the left. Be not willing to lend your
ear to evil teachers who refuse peace. You slay us all ...
[and, in another hand] Fare you well.'

And a copy of another letter :

' Purpurius the Bishop to the Clerics and Elders of Cirta —
eternal health in the Lord ! Moses cried out to the whole
assembly of the children of Israel and told them what the Lord
commanded to be done. Nothing was to be done without the
advice of the Elders. So do you too, my beloved, whom I
know to have all heavenly and spiritual wisdom, search out
with all your strength what is the nature of this dissension
and bring [men] to peace. For Nundinarius the deacon says
that you have knowledge of all the circumstances from which
this dissension has arisen between our well-beloved Silvan us
and himself. For he has handed me a petition in which all
these things have been written. And he said that you too are
acquainted with them. I know that no one can overhear.3
Do you search out a satisfactory remedy that this thing may be
extinguished without danger to your soul, for fear lest when

1 verum. Cf. Livy (Book xxxii) : ' Ceterum et sociorum
audiri postulata verum esse.'

2 ecclesiasticos viros, id est men who belong to the Church,
not heretics or schismatics. Purpurius means ' those who belong
to our faction,' which he called the Church.

3 ego scio quia awn's non est, i.e. I write this to you all, because
you know it already. I know there is no ear listening — no danger
of the thing leaking out further. Du Pin, however, suggests sileo
for scio.

APPENDIX— II 361

you respect persons you should unawares find yourself before
the Judge.1 Judge just judgement between the parties in
accordance with your gravity and justice. Be careful not to
decline either to the right hand or to the left. There is
question of a matter which belongs to God 2 who searcheth
the thoughts of every man. Be careful that no one knows the
story of this conspiracy. What is contained in the bill of
accusation is true.3 It is not good, for the Lord says " Out
of thy mouth thou shalt be condemned and out of thy mouth
shalt thou be justified." 4 '

This also was read out :

' Fortis to our well-beloved brother Silvanus, eternal health
in the Lord ! Our son Nundinarius the deacon has come to
me and related the things which have taken place between
you and him, through the intervention of the Evil One, who
wishes to turn aside the souls of the just from the way of truth.
When I heard these things I fainted in my spirit that such
a dissension had come between you — that a priest of God
should arrive at that . . .5 which is not expedient for us to
be done. Now therefore beseech him that you may have,
as is possible, the peace of the Lord, the Saviour Christ, with
him. Let us not come into a public court and be condemned
by the Gentiles. For it has been written " Take heed lest,
whilst you bite and accuse one another, you be devoured one
by another." 6 Therefore I beseech the Lord that this scandal
may be removed from our midst, so that this business, which
concerns God, may be carried through with the giving of
thanks,7 as the Lord says " My peace I give unto you, My

1 Cf. John vii, 24. 2 Dei res agitur.

3 vera sunt. This is the emendation of Du Pin for the vestra
sunt of the MS., which Ziwsa preserves. ' Vestra ' might mean
' The things in the Libellus are for you alone — tell nobody.' (Cf .
supra Ego scio — I know that there is no eavesdropper.) But in the
preceding letter of Purpurius, we have a parallel passage : ' Et scio,
quia vera sunt.'

4 Matt, xii, 37. 5 Something evidently is missing here.

6 Gal. iii, 15.

7 ut possit res Dei cum gratiarum actions celebrari, cf. ' Dei res
agitur ' (supra) .

362 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

peace I leave to you." x What peace can there be, where there
is dissension and where there are rivalries ? For when I was
roasted by the soldiers,2 and set apart, and had come to that
pass 3 with such foul treatment,* I commended my soul to
God and forgave you,5 for God sees the minds of men, and [how,
just like you, I was led into the deed you know of6]. But God
has delivered us and we serve Him together with you. There
fore even as we have been forgiven, so be you two reconciled
to peace, that you may be able to celebrate the peace of Easter 7
with joy in the Name of Christ. Let no one know about
it. . . .' 8

There was also read out :

' Fortis to the brethren and sons, to the clergy and seniors,
eternal health in the Lord ! Your deacon, Nundinarius, has
come to me and told me of the things that have been done
against you, which surely ought to have been adjusted by you
in such a way that you should not have arrived at so great a

1 John xiv, 27.

2 nam cum ego a milite essem ass .... separatus. In the MS.
four letters are wanting. Dom John Chapman suggests that they
are us et (assus cf), and I have translated this.

3 et in illo venissem. This probably is corrupt. Ziwsa remarks
' Hie locus perobscurus medelam eludere videtur.' The sense seems
sufficiently clear. Fortis came to the same pass as Silvanus, and gave
up the books. In illo venit. He will not name the deed. Then
he begged God's pardon and himself forgave Silvanus.

4 cum iniuria tali. Fortis had been tortured, and at last had
given way — so he says — if we are to believe him.

6 et remisi tibi. He then forgave Silvanus, as he himself hoped
to be forgiven.

6 eorum, sive a te ad illos perductus sum. This is hopelessly
corrupt. We seem to want something, like quomodo, sicut et tu,
ad illud perductus sum ; and so I have translated it, placing,
however, the passage in square brackets.

7 et vos reconciliamini pace, ut . . . possimus cum gaudio pacem
celebrare. Pacem, that is the Peace of Easter. It is a play upon
words, unless indeed for Pacem we should read Pascha, as below.

8 There is here a lacuna of nine lines, at the end of which doubt
less there were the usual introductory words for a new letter :
Item alia recitata.

APPENDIX— II 363

pitch of madness that men should be degraded l for telling
the truth — a thing which both you and we know, even as you
have related to us. And it is written " Is there not any wise
man amongst you who can judge between brethren ? But
does brother go to law with brother — and this amongst the
unbelievers ? " a — just as you now strive in judgement.3 Have
things then come to this pass, that we should give such an
example to the Gentiles, so that they who have believed in
God through us, should themselves speak evil of us, when
we come before the public ? Therefore, that it may not come
to this, do you who are spiritual see to it that no one should
know, so that we may keep Easter with peace,4 and do you
exhort them to be reconciled to Peace, and that there may be
no dissension, lest, should things be made public, you too
commence to be in danger (if this should occur), and after
wards blame yourselves. You especially will take care, you,
Possessor, Donatius the priest,5 and Valerius and Victor, each
of you,8 who know all that was done 7 — take care8 that you be
at peace one with another.'

Another letter was also read out :

' Sabinus to his brother Silvanus,9 eternal health in the
Lord ! Nundinarius your son has come to us — not only to

1 lapidarentuv '. [Cf. n. 7, p. 359-]

2 i Cor. vi. 5, 6.

8 vos nunc in iudicio contenditis. Ziwsa reads cum in iudicio
non intenditis — that is ' when you do not give your minds to judge
ment.'

4 ut cum Pace Pascha celebremus (cf. supra ' cum gaudio Pacem
[Pascha (?)] celebrare').

6 dabitis [operarn] quamplurime, tu possessor Donati Presbyter '.
It is printed in this way by both Du Pin and Ziwsa. But Possessor
must be here the proper name of a Bishop (cf. the famous eighth
century African Bishop, whose letter to Pope Hormisdas, about
Scythian monks, is well known).

6 singuli.

7 qui omnia scitis actum. Ziwsa reads acta for acium.

8 date operam. Date takes up dabitis above — an anacoluthon.

9 fratri Silvano Sabinus, These words are not found in Ziwsa,
nor are they in the MS. They were added by Baluzius, who writes
' certa est haec restitutio.' He says that Sabinus was a Numidian
Bishop.

364 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

me but also to our brother Fortis, bringing a serious1 complaint.
I am surprised at your lordship,2 that you have acted thus with
your son, whom you brought up and ordained. For if an
earthly building has been erected, is not something heavenly
added to it, which is built by the hand of a priest ? 3 However,
we ought not to be surprised at you, for the Scripture says
" I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I will reject the
prudence of the prudent,"4 and again it says "Men have
loved the darkness rather than the light," ° just as you are
doing.6 It should be enough for you to know all the facts.
Our brother Fortis has written to you about this. Now I
would ask of your charity, my very kind brother, to fulfil
the saying of the prophet Isaiah : " Cast evil forth from your
souls, and come let us dispute together, saith the Lord."
And again, " Cast forth wickedness from your midst." 7
So do you now act after this manner.8 Overcome and avert
the plot of those who have been unwilling that there should
be peace between you and your son. No ! let your son Nun-
dinarius keep Easter in peace with you,9 that the matter which
is already known to all of us may not became public as well.
I would beg of you, my very kind brother, to fulfil the petition
of my mediocrity. Let no one know about it.'

Also another letter was read aloud : 10

' Sabinus to his brother Fortis, eternal health in the Lord !
How great is your charity according to the witness of all your
colleagues, I know very well u; but that you have had a special

1 The MS. has a play upon words, ad fratrem nostrum Fortem,
fortem et gravem querelam referens. Ziwsa, however, (following
Deutsch) omits the second fortem.

2 Gravitati tuae.

3 Si enim aedificium terrae structum sit, non additur quid caeleste,
quod per manum sacerdotis aedificatur ?

4 i Cor. i, 19. 6 John iii, 19. 6 sicuti et tu fads.
7 Cf. Is. i, 1 6, 1 8. 8 sic et tu fac.

9 in pace tecum Pascha celebret.

10 There is here a lacuna in the MS.

11 certus sum peculiariter; It is thus punctuated by Ziwsa,
but it seems to me that the semi-colon should rather be placed
after sum, and that peculiariter belongs to coluisse in the next
sentence.

APPENDIX—II 365

friendship with Silvanus,1 according to the will of God, who
has said " Some I love above my soul," 2 1 know too. Where
fore I have not hesitated to send you these writings, because
I caused yours concerning Nundinarius to be given to him.
If we act with diligence God's affair always goes vigorously.*
Do not put forward an excuse. For business presses upon us
during these days, and urges us without delay to see to these
things before the most solemn Feast of Easter, that through
you there may be brought about a peace full of fatness,4 and
we may be found worthy co-heirs of Christ, who has said
" My peace I give unto you, My peace I leave to you." And
once again I beseech you to do as I ask.' [And in another
hand] ' I pray that you have good health in the Lord and
are mindful of us. Fare you well. But I entreat you let
no one know about it.'

After these documents had been read,5 Zenophilus said :

' From the Acts and letters which have been read aloud,
it is clear that Silvanus is a Betrayer.'

And he said to Victor :

' Frankly confess whether you know that he betrayed
anything.'

Victor said :

' He did betray, but not in my presence.'

Zenophilus said :

' What office did Silvanus hold at the time amongst
the clergy ? '

Victor answered :

' The persecution broke out when Paul was Bishop ;
Silvanus was then a sub-deacon.'

1 Silvanum te coluisse. z Cf. Jer. xxxi, 3 ; i John iv, 9,

5 impetu. 4 ut per te fiat pinguissima pax.

5 There is another lacuna here in the MS,

366 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Nundinarius the deacon replied :
' When he came here, as he said to be made Bishop,
the people answered " Let it be another,1 hear us, O God." '

Zenophilus said to Victor :

' Did the people cry out " Silvanus is a Betrayer " ? '

Victor said :

' I myself fought against his being made Bishop.'

Zenophilus said :

' So you did know that he was a Betrayer ! Confess
to this.'

Victor answered :
' He was a Betrayer.'
Nundinarius the deacon said :

' You seniors cried out " Hear us, O God ! We want
our fellow-citizen. This man is a Betrayer." '

Zenophilus said to Victor :

' So you cried out with the people that Silvanus was
a Betrayer and ought not to be made Bishop ? '

Victor said :

' I did cry out, and so did the people. For we wanted
our fellow-citizen, a man of integrity.'

Zenophilus said :

' For what reason did you deem him unworthy ? '

Victor said :

' We wanted one who was a man of integrity and our
fellow-citizen. For I knew that for this reason we should
have to go to the Emperor's Court, if the office were given
to such as he.'

1 We shall soon see that they wanted Donatus.

APPENDIX— II 367

Then when Victor of Samsuricum and Saturninus the
grave-diggers had been brought in and sworn, Zenophilus
said :

' What is your name ? '

Saturninus said :
' Saturninus.'

Zenophilus said :

' What is your station in life ? '

Saturninus said :

' I am a grave-digger.'

Zenophilus said :

' Do you know that Silvanus is a Betrayer ? '

Saturninus said :

' I know that he gave up a silver lamp.'

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :
' What else ? '

Saturninus said :

' I do not know of anything else, excepting that he
took the lamp from behind a tun.'

And after Saturninus had been ordered down, Zeno
philus said to the one who remained standing :
' And you, what is your name ? '

He answered :

' Victor of Samsuricum.'

Zenophilus said :

' What is your station in life ? '

368 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Victor said :

' I am an artisan.'

Zenophilus said :

' Who gave up the silver table * ? '

Victor answered :

' I did not see — what I know I will tell you.'

Zenophilus said to Victor :

' Although it has now become certain from the replies
of those whom we have already questioned, nevertheless,
do you tell us whether Silvanus is a Betrayer.'

Victor said :

'When it was demanded a second time how it was
that he dismissed this matter 2— that we should be led to
Carthage, I heard from the mouth of the Bishop himself :
" There were given to me a silver lamp and a silver
casket,3 and these I gave up." '

Zenophilus said to Victor of Samsuricum :
' From whom did you hear that ? '

Victor said :

' From Silvanus the Bishop.'

Zenophilus said to Victor :

1 tabulam argenteam.

2 secundo petato quomodo hoc dimisit, ut duceremur ad Carthaginem.
I have translated this sentence making Silvanus the subject of
dimisit ; in this case hoc dimisit = ' dismissed this matter ' (i.e.
escaped the penalty). But the magistrate may be the subject—' how
it was that the magistrate discharged the matter— that is, that we
should be led ' etc. For petato Voelter (Der Ursprung des Donatismus,
Freiburg 1883, p. 56) reads placito.

3 capitulaia.

APPENDIX— II 369

' Did you hear from himself that he had been a
Betrayer ? '

Victor said :

' I heard Mm say that he gave up these things with his
own hands/

Zenophilus said :

' Where did you hear that ? '

Victor said :

' In the basilica/

Zenophilus said :
' At Cirta * ? '

Victor said :

' He began there his address to the people with these
words : " On what ground do they say that I am a
Betrayer ? Is it because of the lamp and the casket 2 ? " '

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' What else is there about which you think that we
should question these men ? '

Nundinarius said :

' About the casks belonging to the imperial treasury.3
Who took them away ? '

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :
' What casks ? '

1 apud Constantinam. 2 capitulata.

8 de cupis fisci. We shall see that the casks were of vinegar.
Fiscus denoted the imperial revenue, as opposed to the aerarium,
the Senate's treasury,

2 B

370 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Nundinarius said :

' They were in the temple of Serapis, and Purpurius
the Bishop took them away. The vinegar that they con
tained was taken away by Silvanus the Bishop, Dontius
the priest, and Lucianus.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' Do these men who are before us know that this was
done ? '

Nundinarius answered :
' Yes/

Saturninus the deacon said :

' Our fathers told us that they were taken away.'

Zenophilus said :

' By whom — as it is alleged — were they taken away ? '

Saturninus said :

' By Purpurius the Bishop, and the vinegar by Silvanus
and Dontius and Superius the priests, and Lucianus the
deacon.'

Nundinarius said :

' Did Victor give twenty pieces of money and was he
made a priest ? '

Saturninus said :
' Yes.'

And when he had said this, Zenophilus said to
Saturninus :

' To whom did he give the money ? '

Saturninus said :

' To Silvanus the Bishop.'

APPENDIX— II 37I

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :

' Then he gave twenty pieces of money as a bribe to
Mlvanus the Bishop, that he might be made a priest ? '
Saturninus said :
' Yes/

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :

' Was the money laid before Silvanus ? '

Saturninus said :

' It was laid before the Episcopal Chair.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' By whom was the money taken away ? '

Nundinarius said :

' The Bishops divided it among themselves.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' Do you wish Donatus to be called ? '

Nundinarius said :

' By all means let him come, for the people cried out
about him two days after the Peace * : " Hear us O God
we wish for our fellow-citizen." '

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' Is it certain the people cried out this ? '

He answered :

' Yes.'

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :

' Did they cry out that Silvanus was a Betrayer ? '

1 post Pacem = ' after the Peace ' = after the cessation of
persecution, when it was possible to elect a new Bishop.

372 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Saturninus said :

' Yes.'

Nundinarius said :

' When he was made Bishop, we did not communicate
with him because it was said that he was a Betrayer.'

Saturninus said :

' What he says is true/

Nundinarius said :

' I saw Mutus the worker in the sand-quarries * carry
him on his shoulders.2 '

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :
' Did it happen in this way ? '

Saturninus said :
' Yes, in this way.'

Zenophilus said :

' Is everything that Nundinarius says true— how
Silvanus was made Bishop by the quarry-men ? '

Saturninus said :
' It is all true.'

Nundinarius said :

' Common women were there.'

Zenophilus said to Saturninus :

' Did the quarry-men chair him ? '

1 harenarius. Harenaria (less correctly avenavia ) is a sand-pit,
or a catacomb in sand, like those which lead into the Roman cata
combs.

2 tulit eutn in collo.

APPENDIX— II 373

Saturninus said :

1 They and the populace carried him ; the citizens were
shut up in the Martyrs' Hall/ 1

Nundinarius the Deacon said :
' Were the people of God there ? '

Saturninus said :

' They were shut up in the big shed.' 2

Zenophilus said :

' Is it certain that everything which Nundinarius says
is true ? '

Saturninus said :
' It is all true/

Zenophilus said :

' And what do you say ? '

Victor said :

' All is true, my Lord/

Nundinarius said :

' Purpurius the Bishop took away a hundred pieces of
money/

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' Of whom in your opinion ought we to ask questions
about the four hundred pieces of money ? '

Nundinarius said :

' Let Lucianus the Deacon be brought forward, for he
knows everything/

1 in area martyrum = ' Court of the Martyrs,' probably the
atrium of a Church of the Martyrs.

2 in casa maiove. A penthouse roof probably ran round the
court, with pillars. The largest side would be the casa maiov.

374 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :
' Do these men know about it ? '

Nundinarius said :
'No.'

Zenophilus said :

' Let Lucianus be brought forward/

Nundinarius said :

' They do know that the four hundred pieces of silver
were received, but they do not know that the Bishops
shared them.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius * and to Victor :

' Do you know that the money was received from
Lucilla ? '

Saturninus and Victor said :
' We do know it.'

Zenophilus said :

' Did not the poor get it ? '

They said :

' No one got anything.'

Zenophilus said to Saturninus and Victor :

' Was nothing taken away from the temple of Serapis ? '

Saturninus and Victor said :

' Purpurius took away the casks, and Silvanus the
Bishop, and Dontius and Superius the priests, and Lucianus
the deacon, took away the vinegar.'

1 Nundtnario in MS. But this clearly is an error. It should
be Satumino.

APPENDIX— II 375

Zenophilus said :

' By the answers of Victor the Grammarian and of
Victor of Samsuricum and of Saturninus, it has been made
clear that all the statements of Nundinarius are true. Let
them be dismissed, and go their way/

Zenophilus said :

' Who else is there that you think ought to be
questioned ? '

Nundinarius said :

' Castus the deacon, that he may tell us whether Silvanus
is not a Betrayer, for he ordained him.'

And when Castus the deacon had been called in and
sworn, Zenophilus said :

' What is your name ? '

He answered :
' Castus.'

Zenophilus said to Castus :
' What is your state of life ? '

Castus said :

' I have no dignity.'

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Although the charges of Nundinarius have now been
admitted to be true, through the evidence of Victor the
Grammarian, as well as through that of Victor of
Samsuricum and of Saturninus, nevertheless, do you also
tell us whether Silvanus is a Betrayer ? '

Castus answered :

' He said that he found a lamp behind a tun.'

376 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Tell us also about the casks taken from the temple
of Serapis and the vinegar/ 1

Castus answered :

' Purpurius the Bishop took away the casks.'

Zenophilus said :

' Who took the vinegar ? '

Castus answered that Silvanus the Bishop and Dontius
and Superius the priests took the vinegar out of the temple.

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Tell us how many pieces of money Victor gave to be
made priest.'

Castus said :

' He offered, my lord, a little money-bag,2 but what
it held I know not.'

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' To whom was the bag given ? '

Castus said :

' He took it with him to the big shed/

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Was not the money divided among the people ? '

Castus answered :

'As far as I saw, it was not given to them/

1 de cupas de fano et aceto (we may note the uss of de with
accusative and ablative in the same sentence) .

2 saccellum : hence the English word satchel.

APPENDIX— II 377

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Did not the poor people l get any of the money which
Lucilla had given ? '

Castus said :

' I did not see anybody get anything.'

Zenophilus said to Castus :

' Where then did the money go ? '

Castus said :

' I do not know/

Nundinarius said :

' Surely you either heard or saw it, if it was said to the
poor : " Lucilla, out of her substance, makes you also a
present " ? '

Castus said :

' I did not see anyone get anything.'

Zenophilus said :

' The evidence of Castus is quite clear, that he has no
knowledge that the money which Lucilla gave was distri
buted among the people. So let him be dismissed.'

And when Crescentianus the subdeacon was called in
and sworn, Zenophilus said :

' What is your name ? '

He answered :

' Crescentianus.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Tell us frankly, as the rest have done, whether you
know that Silvanus is a Betrayer.'

1 populus minutus = the people in ' reduced ' circumstances,
literally ' reduced people.'

378 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Crescentianus said :

' The clerics who were called before me have related
everything.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :
' What have they related ? '

Crescentianus said :

' They related that he was a Betrayer.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Did they say that he was a Betrayer ? And/ he
added, ' Who said it ? '

Crescentianus said :

' Those who lived with him among the people said
that he had once betrayed.'

Zenophilus said :

' Did they say this of Silvanus ? '

Crescentianus said :
' Yes.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Were you there when he was made Bishop ? '

Crescentianus said :

' I was present with the people, but shut up in the big
shed.'

Nundinarius the deacon said :

' The country people and quarry-men l made him
Bishop.'

1 campeses et harenani. Campeses for campenses.

APPENDIX— II 379

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Is there no doubt that it was Mutus the quarry-man
who carried him ? '

He said :

' There is no doubt about it.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Is it within your knowledge that casks were taken
away from the temple of Serapis ? '

Crescentianus said :

' Several persons used to say that Bishop Purpurius
himself took the casks and the vinegar, which came to our
senior Bishop Silvanus,1 and the sons of Aelion said so.'

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :
' What did you hear ? '

Crescentianus said that the vinegar had been taken
away by the senior Bishop Silvanus,2 and by Dontius and
Superius the priests and Lucian the deacon.

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' Did the people get any of the four hundred pieces of
money, the gift of Lucilla ? '

Crescentianus said :

' No one to my knowledge had any of it, nor do I know
who spent the money/

1 ad senem nostrum Silvanum. ' Senex ' meant the senior Bishop
of an African province, who was ipso facto Primate (as Secundus
was of Numidia), except, of course, in Proconsularis, where Carthage
had primacy. It appears that Silvanus was now senior Bishop of
Numidia, unless senex is only an honorific title in the subdeacon's
mouth = ' our venerable Silvanus.'

2 a sene Silvano.

380 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Nundinarius said :

' Did no old women ever get any of it ? '

Crescentianus said :
'No.'

Zenophilus said :

' It is certain that whenever any gift of this kind is
made, all the populace receive their part of it in public.'

Crescentianus said :

' I neither heard nor saw that he gave any/

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :

' None then of the four hundred pieces of money were
given to the people ? '

Crescentianus said :

' None — otherwise surely some small trifle 1 would have
come to us.'

Zenophilus said :

1 Where then was the money taken ? '

Crescentianus said :

' I do not know. No one got anything.'

Nundinarius said :

' How much money did Victor give to be made priest ? '

Crescentianus said :

' I saw that he brought baskets with money in them/

Zenophilus said to Crescentianus :
' To whom were the baskets given ? '

1 aliqua partiuncula.

APPENDIX— II 381

Crescentianus said :

' To Silvanus the Bishop.'

Zenophilus said :

' Were they given to Silvanus ? '

Crescentianus said :
' Yes, to Silvanus.'

Zenophilus said :

' Was nothing given to the people ? '

He answered :

' Nothing. We too must have received something if
the distribution had been made in the usual manner.'

Zenophilus said to Nundinarius :

' What else is there that you think should be asked
of Crescentianus ? '

Nundinarius said :

' His evidence is the very thing.1 Since Crescentianus
the subdeacon has given his evidence frankly about every
thing, let him be dismissed.'

Then when Januarius the subdeacon was brought in
and sworn, Zenophilus said :

' What is your name ? '
He answered :

(What followed in the manuscript is lost.)

1 ipsud est

APPENDIX— III

CONSTANTINUS AUGUSTUS AELAFIO
INTRODUCTION

IN this letter Constantine sends orders to his Vicar in
Africa that Caecilian and certain other Bishops (both
Catholic and Donatist) should be directed to proceed,
with some of their clergy, to Aries, where a Council was to
be held (as he explains) once more publicly to vindicate
the character of Caecilian. The date is 314.

This letter may be compared with another letter sent
by Constantine to Chrestus, Bishop of Syracuse, and
preserved for us by Eusebius (x, 5). In both these letters
August i is fixed as the date for the opening of the Council
at Aries ; in both we find a reference to the Council which
had been already held at Rome under Miltiades. Indeed
the similarity between them is so striking that it has been
suggested that the letter to Aelafius is a forgery and has
been copied from that to Chrestus. But Mgr. Duchesne
has shown (op. cit. p. 32) that this is quite impossible, since
the letter to Chrestus was unknown in Africa, at the time
when the letter to Aelafius was placed in the collection
used by Optatus. The only edition of Eusebius known
to St. Augustine, for example, was the version of Rufinus,
where Book Ten (containing the letter to Chrestus) is
wanting.

It has also been urged as an argument against the
authenticity of the Letter to Aelafius that the Bishops
are herein ordered to adopt a most improbable itinerary.
They were directed to follow the coast of Mauritania,

APPENDIX— III 383

thence to pass into Spain, and then to travel to Aries by
land ; whereas it has been pointed out that it would have
been far simpler and cheaper to embark at Carthage,
or Hippo, and go straight to Marseilles by sea. But here
again Mgr. Duchesne has observed, with irrefutable force,
that if the Letter to Aelafius be not genuine, it must have
been composed by an African of the fourth century.
During the course of that century there is no reason to
suppose that there was any change of routes. And (to
quote the words of Duchesne) :

' The Africans who were the contemporaries of St. Optatus
knew how people went from their own country into Gaul.
No one of them, had he forged such a letter as this, would
ever have dreamed of placing within it an impossible itinerary.'

On the other hand we can nowadays know but little
of the circumstances which may well have caused the
itinerary described in this letter to have been chosen
for the journey of the Bishops to Gaul. So we may safely
conclude, with Duchesne, that as to the authenticity of
the letter there is no room for genuine doubt.

384 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

CONSTANTINE THE EMPEROR TO AELAFIUS 1

Already some time back, since it was brought to my
knowledge that many persons in our dominion of Africa
had begun to separate from one another with mad fury,
and had brought purposeless accusations against each
other about the keeping of the most holy Catholic Law.,
I thought it well, in order to settle this quarrel, that
Caecilian the Bishop of Carthage, against whom especially
they all often petitioned me, should go to the City of
Rome, and that some of those who had deemed fit to
bring certain charges against him, should appear as well.
I also ordered some Bishops from the Gauls to proceed to
our above-mentioned City of Rome, that, by the integrity
of their lives and praiseworthy manner of living, together
with seven Bishops of the same Communion, and the
Bishop 2 of the City of Rome, and their assessors, they
might give due attention to the questions which had
been raised. Now they brought to my knowledge, by the
written Acts of their meeting, all that had been done in

1 Aelafio. We do not meet this name elsewhere. It is almost
certainly an error of the copyists. Du Pin (without giving any
reason for his choice) suggests Ablavio. Mgr. Duchesne, however,
(p. 61) with his usual acumen, identifies this Aelafius of the corrupt
MS. with the Aelius Paulinus of whom we have read at the beginning
of the Ada Purgationis Felicis (cf. Opt. i, 27). For the recipient
of this letter evidently was Constantine's Vicar in Africa, and no one
else could be charged with the public conveyance of Bishops of
Numidia, Byzacium, and Mauritania. Now Patritius was Vicar from
the end of 312 to the beginning of 313 (cf. S. Aug. con. Cresc. iii, 81
etc.), Verus was Vicar in February 315. Shortly before Verus,
Aelius Paulinus. It is therefore in all probability his name which
is hidden beneath the group of letters Aelafius. The following
then is the succession of Vicars of Africa in the early years of Con-
stantine. (i) Patritius, (2) Aelius Paulinus = Aelafius, (3) Verus,
(4) Domitius Celsus, (5) Eumelius, (6) Verinus.

2 Episcopus, The MS. reads episcopi — of course this is a
mistake.

APPENDIX— III 385

their presence, affirming also by word of mouth that their
judgement was based upon equity, and declaring that
not Caecilian, but those who brought charges against
him, were guilty — so that, after giving their judgement,
they forbade the latter to go back to Africa.1 Wherefore,
in consequence of all this I once hoped that, in accordance
with the probable issue of events, a fitting end had been
made to all the seditions and contentions of every kind
which had been suddenly called into being by the other
party. But after I had read your letters, which you had
deemed it your duty to send to Nicasius and the rest,
about the crafty pretext of these men, I recognised clearly
that they would not place before their eyes either con
siderations of their own salvation, or (what is of more
importance) the reverence which is due to Almighty God —
for they are persisting in a line of action which not merely
leads to their shame and disgrace, but also gives an oppor
tunity of detraction to those who are known to turn their
minds away from the keeping of the most holy Catholic
Law. I write thus because — and this is a thing which it
is well that you should know — some have come from these
men, asserting that the above-mentioned Caecilian is
deemed not to be worthy of the worship of our most holy
religion,2 and in answer to my reply that they were making
an empty boast (since the affair had been terminated
in the City of Rome by competent men of the highest
character, who were Bishops), they thought fit to answer
with persistent obstinacy that the whole case had not
been heard, but that these Bishops had shut themselves
up somewhere and given the judgement as was most
convenient to themselves.3 Wherefore, since I perceived
that these numerous and important affairs were being
pertinaciously delayed by discussions, so that it appeared

1 Cf. Opt. i, 26 (n. 4, p. 29).

2 minus dignus idem Caecilianus cultu sanctissimae religionis
habeatur.

3 Cf. p. 328, n. i.

386 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

that no end could be made of them without both Caecilian
and three of those who are making a schism against him
coming to the town of Aries, for the judgement of those who
are opposed to Caecilian, and are bound to accept him as
Bishop,1 I have deemed it well to impose upon your care
to provide, as soon as you receive this letter of mine, that
the above-mentioned Caecilian with some of those whom
he himself shall choose — and also some from the provinces
of Byzacium, Tripolis, the Numidias and the Mauritanias,
and each of the provinces, (and these must bring a certain
number of their clergy 2 whom they shall choose) — and
also some of those who have made a schism against
Caecilian (public conveyance being provided3 through
Africa and Mauritania) shall travel thence by a short
course to Spain. In the same way 4 you shall provide
in Spain each Bishop with a single right of conveyance 5
so that they may all arrive at the above-mentioned place 6

1 consensumque debent = they owe liim their approval as Bishop.

2 aliquantos ex suis. 3 data evectione publica.
* nihilominus ( = huiusmodi, in the same way).

5 his in singulis Episcopis singulas tr actor i as tribuas. In his
History of the Conference at Carthage, A.D. 411 (reprinted by Du Pin
in his Optatus), Balduinus writes as follows : ' Nolo hoc loco
praeterire quod ipse Augustinus in Lib. post Collat. cap. 24 ait
Donatistas a Primate suo per Tractoriam fuisse evocatos. Tractoria
verbum est iuris nostri, sicuti et in eadem prope significatione,
EvectiOy quo etiam verbo utitur Augustinus lib. 5 Confess. Significat
autem libellum vel diploma ut missis aut evocatis detur viaticum
de publico, et ut uti possint cursu publico. Exstat lib. xii. Cod.
Titul. de Tract, ubi Interpres praeterea refert quoddam fragmentum
cuiusdam edicti Constantini facientis memoriam Tractoriarum et
Evectionis publicae dandae Donatistis propter caussam Caeciliani.'
Constantine gave the same right of public conveyances to the
Bishops for Nicaea, and his successors did the same for all the great
Councils of the Church — they had the Bishops conveyed at the
public cost in the regular imperial post-chaises. So this letter of
Constantine with regard to the Council of Aries is rendered more
interesting from the fact that thereby he set the example for future
Emperors.
9 Aries.

APPENDIX—HI 387

by August i ; furthermore you will be pleased to convey
to them without delay that it is their duty to provide,
before they depart, for suitable discipline in their absence,
in order that no sedition or contention of disputing parties
may arise — a thing which would be the greatest disgrace.1
As to the rest,2 after the matter has been fully inquired
into, let it be brought to an end. For when they shall
all have come together, those things which are now known
to be subjects of contention should with reason receive
a timely conclusion,3 and be forthwith finished and
arranged. I confess to your Lordship, since I am well
aware that you also are a worshipper of the most High
God, that I consider it by no means right that contentions
and altercations of this kind should be hidden from me,
by which, perchance, God may be moved not only against
the human race, but also against me myself, to whose care,
by His heavenly Decree, He has entrusted the direction
of ah1 human affairs, and may in His wrath provide 4
otherwise than heretofore. For then shall I be able to
remain truly and most fully without anxiety, and may
always hope for all most prosperous and excellent things
from the ever-ready kindness of the most powerful God,
when I shall know that all, bound together in brotherly
concord, adore the most holy God with the worship of the
Catholic religion, that is His due.

1 Above is a translation of a sentence twenty lines long in the
Latin, with several anacolutha.

2 de cetera, an emendation for the de secreto of the MS., which
cannot be translated.

3 quaeque non inmerito finem debent accipere maturum. This
can only be translated by leaving out quaeque, which has probably
slipped into the MS.

4 decernat. The MS. reads decevnet.

APPENDIX— IV

EPISTOLA CONCILII ARELATENSIS
AD SILVESTRUM PAPAM, A.D. 314

INTRODUCTION

THE authenticity of this letter has never been contested.
It is to be found, though under a slightly different form,
in the collection of Canons of Merovingian Gaul, where it
has been derived, not from African sources, but from the
Archives "of the Church of Aries.

In all probability a letter was also sent from the Council,
announcing its decisions, to the Church of Carthage.
But if so, this letter has been lost.

In the same way the Council of Sardica, at the con
clusion of its labours, sent two letters (both extant), one
to the Pope, the second to the Church of Alexandria.
We also possess a letter from the Council of Nicaea to Alex
andria ; the letter from Nicaea to the Pope has shared the
same fate as the letter from Aries to Carthage. That there
was such a letter can hardly be doubted. As Duchesne
writes (p. 15) :

' II n'est guere douteux que les legats de Silvestre au
Concile de Nicee n'aient rapporte une lettre de cette assemblee,
accompagnant, comme pour le Concile d' Aries, 1'envoi des
Canons disciplinaires.'

APPENDIX— IV 389

LETTER OF THE COUNCIL OF ARLES TO POPE
SILVESTER.

To the most beloved Pope Silvester : Marinus, Acratius,
Natalis, Theodore, Proterius, Vocius, Verus, Probatius,
Caecilian, Faustinus, Surgentius, Gregory, Reticius,
Ambitausus, Termatius, Merocles, Pardus, Adelfius,
Hibernius, Fortunatus, Aristasius, Lampadius, Vitalis,
Maternus, Liberius, Gregory, Crescens, Avitianus, Dafnus,
Orantalis, Quintasius, Victor, Epictetus, eternal health in
the Lord !

Being united by the common tie of charity, and by
that unity which is the bond of our mother, the Catholic
Church, we have been brought to the City of Aries by the
wish of the most pious Emperor, and we salute thee with
the reverence which is thy due,1 most glorious Pope.
Here we have suffered from troublesome men, dangerous
to our law and tradition — men of undisciplined mind,2
whom both the authority of our God, which is with us,3
and our tradition and the rule of truth reject, because 4
they neither have reasonableness in their argument, nor
any moderation in their accusations, nor was their manner
of proof to the point.5 Therefore by the Judgement of
God and of Mother Church, who knows and approves her
own, they have been either condemned or rejected.6

1 merita reverentia salutamus.

2 The Editors read graves ac perniciosos legi nostrae atque
traditioni effrenatae mentis homines pertulimus. Ziwsa for graves
ac perniciosos reads gravem ac perniciosam, for legi, traditioni, he
reads legis, traditionis, and supplies iniuriam et between traditionis
and effrenatae.

3 Dei nostri praesens auctoritas.

4 ita respuit, ut.

6 ut nulla in Us aut dicendi ratio subsisteret aut accusandi modus
ullus aut probatio conveniret.

6 aut damnati sunt aut repulsi.

390 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

And would, most beloved Brother, that you had deemed
it well to be present at this great spectacle. We believe
surely that in that case a more severe sentence would have
been passed against them ; and our assembly would
have exulted with a greater joy, had you passed Judgement
together with us. But since you were by no means able
to leave that region, where the Apostles daily sit, and their
blood without ceasing bears witness to the glory of God,
it did not seem to us that by reason of your absence,1
most well-beloved Brother, we ought to deal exclusively
with those matters, on account of which we had been
summoned, but we judged that we also should take counsel
on our own affairs ; because, as the countries from which
we come are different, so events of various kinds will
happen which we think that we ought to watch and
regulate.2 Accordingly we thought well in the presence
of the Holy Spirit and His Angels that from among the
various matters which occurred to each of us,3 we should
make some decrees to provide for the present state of
tranquillity. We also agreed to write first to you,4 who
hold [the government of] the greater dioceses,5 that by

1 tamen.

2 observare.

3 The MS. has ex his qui singulos quos monebat. Du Pin
observes that there must be a lacuna between quos and monebat.
Ziwsa changes quos to quosque and monebat to movebant. This
I have translated in the text.

4 The MS. reads antequam ante a te. This is manifestly corrupt.
Ziwsa reads antea ad te scribi.

5 qui maiores dioeceseos tenes (so the MS. Hefele, History of
the Councils, i. 204, note 2, suggests that the word gubernacula had
fallen out. In this case maiores should be maiovis}. The editors
read maiores dioeceses. Dioecesis is a province of the Empire
(cf. ' mirifica expectatio est Asiae nostrarum dioecesium ' Cic.).
Antioch, for example, was the capital of the dioecesis Oriens, and
the Bishop or Patriarch of Antioch had jurisdiction over that vast
province. The context shows that the Pope is over all these
' greater provinces/ so that he can intimate the decision to the
whole East and West.

APPENDIX— IV 391

you especially they should be brought to the knowledge
of all.1 What it is that we have determined on, we have
appended to this writing of our insignificance. But in the
first place, we were bound to discuss a matter that con
cerned the usefulness of our life. Now since 2 one died
and rose again for many, the same season should be observed
with a religious mind by all at the same time, lest divisions
or dissensions might arise in so great a service of devotion.
We judge, therefore, that the Pasch of the Lord should
be observed throughout the world upon the same
day.

Also, concerning those who have been ordained clerics
in any places whatsoever, we have decreed that they
remain fixed in the same places. Concerning those too 3
who throw down their arms in time of peace,4 we have
decreed that they should be kept from communion. Con
cerning the wandering agitators who belong to the Faithful,
we have decreed that, as long as they continue their
agitation, they be debarred from communion.

Concerning the strolling players we have decreed that,
as long as they act, they be debarred from communion.
Concerning those [heretics] 5 who are weighed down by
illness and wish to believe,6 we have decreed that hands be
laid upon them. Concerning magistrates who belong to
the Faithful and are appointed to office, we have determined
that, when they are promoted, they should receive eccle
siastical letters of communion, but in such a way that in
whatever place they may be living, the Bishop of that
place shall have a heed to them, and if they begin to act
against discipline, they be then excluded from communion .
We have decreed similarly with regard to those who wish

per te potissimum omnibus insinuari.

Reading, with Ziwsa, quia for the qui of the MS,

Reading with the editors de Ms etiam for de his agitur of the MS.

qui arm a proiiciunt in pace.

de his. The MS. has de his agitur.

credere. So Ziwsa. The MS. has recedere.

392 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

to hold state offices. Moreover, with regard to the Africans, l
inasmuch as they use their own law of rebaptising, we have
decreed that if any heretic comes to the Church, he should
be questioned concerning the Creed, and if it be found that
he has been baptised in the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost, hands shall be laid upon him and no more.2
But if, on being questioned as to the Creed, he does not
give the Trinity in answer, then let him rightly be baptised,
and the rest, etc.3

Then giving over,4 he commanded all to return to their
homes. Amen.

1 The MS. has de Africa. The editors read de Afris.

2 manus tantum ei imponatur.

8 etcetera. The text of the letter is here broken off, and the
interruption is marked by an etcetera.

4 tune taedians iussit omnes ad sedes suas redire — amen.
Taedians, literally, ' being sick of the affair.' This is clearly no
longer in the epistolary but narrative style. It evidently means
to say that Constantine was now weary of the whole thing, and
sent all those who had assisted at the Council back to their
homes. Duchesne argues (op. cit. p. 10) that this ' debris de phrase '
proves clearly that there was, besides the documents in the dossier,
a running commentary, which held them together (' un r6cit qui les
reliat '). He says that no doubt there was originally to be found
in this place a statement (after the letter had been finished) as to
the protests raised by the Donatists against the decision of the
Council, of the Emperor's useless efforts for peace, and that he
then grew tired of it all. If so, the last line of this document alone
remains to tell the tale.

APPENDIX— V

EPISTOLA CONSTANTINI IMPERATORIS AD
EPISCOPOS CATHOLICOS POST SYNODUM
ARELATENSE SCRIPTA A.D. 314 circa finem.

INTRODUCTION

Two objections, both of them sufficiently flimsy, have
been brought against the authenticity of this letter, from
which St. Optatus quotes twice (i, 23, 25, cf. pp. 44, 49),
though, as we have seen, he was mistaken as to its date.
It has been urged that the indignation of Constantine
at an appeal having been made to him from the decision
of the Bishops is overdone, and it has been represented
that the piety of its expressions is strange as emanating
from an Emperor in an official document. To the first
objection we may reply that Constantine might well be
shocked. As Emperor, he could have no right to settle
the purely ecclesiastical question who was the legitimate
Bishop of Carthage, though in this capacity he considered
it his duty to provide for the ecclesiastical trial of such
matters as they arose, and deemed himself bound to enforce
Catholic law and discipline (when it had been duly deter
mined) throughout his dominions ; as a Christian, he was
still in the lowest rank, a catechumen. Small wonder then
if he was scandalised, and expressed his scornful anger,
at the behaviour of the Donatists in his regard. As for
the piety of the tone of this letter, Duchesne observes
that Constantine' s letter to Chrestus of Syracuse, concern
ing the authenticity of which no one doubts, is equally
full of pious expressions. Besides, Constantine seems to

394 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

have been fond of preaching to his subjects on occasion.
' II a toujours beaucoup sermonne ses sujets. Sa vie
ecrite par Eusebe et les autres documents que Ton a de son
activite oratoire en ce genre, meme certaines lois du code
theodosien, nous edifient sufnsamment la-dessus.' (Op. cit.

P- 39-)

Moreover, this letter may perhaps have been touched
up by an ecclesiastical secretary, of whom Constantine had
several in his household. One of them, Hosius, the cele
brated Bishop of Cordova, was certainly closely involved
in these African controversies (cf. Eusebius, E.H. x, 6).
However this may be, there is no doubt that Constantine
felt the bad conduct of the Donatists very deeply.
Whatever we may think as to the form of this letter, its
substance is certainly his. Expressions may have been
placed upon his lips, or made to flow from his pen. But
this happens not seldom to personages of high estate.
Whatever was written in an official document, such as
the one before us, he adopted and made his own.

APPENDIX— V 395

LETTER OF CONSTANTINE TO THE CATHOLIC
BISHOPS.

Constantine Augustus, to his dearest brothers, the
Catholic Bishops, Health ! The everlasting and worship
ful, the incomprehensible kindness of our God by no
means allows the weakness of men to wander for too long
a time in the darkness. Nor does it suffer the perverse
wills of some to come to such a pass as not to give them
anew by its most splendid light a saving passage, opening
the way so that they may be converted to the rule of
justice. I have indeed experienced this by many examples.
I can also describe it from myself. For in me of old
there were things that were far from right, nor did I
think that the power of God saw anything of what I
carried amongst the secrets of my heart. Surely this
ought to have brought me a just retribution, flowing over
with all evils. But Almighty God, who sitteth in the
watchtower of Heaven,1 hath bestowed upon me gifts
which I deserved not. Of a truth, those things which of
His Heavenly kindness He has granted to me, His servant,
can neither be told nor counted. On this account, O most
holy Bishops of Christ the Saviour, my dearest brothers,
I indeed rejoice ; yes, in a special way do I rejoice, that
at length, after you have held a most impartial inquiry,
you have recalled to a better hope and fortune those
whom the wickedness of the devil seemed by his wretched
persuasion to have turned away from the most noble light
of the Catholic Law. Oh, truly triumphant Providence
of Christ the Saviour, to come to the rescue of those who,
already falling away from the truth, and in a certain
manner taking up arms against it, had joined themselves
to the Gentiles ! For, if even now they will consent with

1 in caeli specula residens. This is Ziwsa's emendation. The
MS, has secula. Du Pin suggests per saecula*

396 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

pure 1 faith to make their obedience to the most holy Law,
they will be able to understand how great a provision
has been made for them by the Will of God. And this,
my most holy brothers, I hoped might be found even in
those in whom the greatest hardness of heart has been
engendered. But your right judgement has not been
of any avail to them, nor has the merciful God made
an entrance into their dispositions. In truth, not un
deservedly has the mercy of Christ departed far from
those men, in whom it is as clear as the sun of noon-day,2
that they are of such a character, as to be seen to
be shut off even from the care of Heaven, since so great
a madness still holds them captive, and with unbelievable
arrogance they persuade themselves of things which cannot
lawfully be either spoken or heard — departing from the
right judgement that was given, from which, as through
the provision of Heaven I have learnt 3 they are appealing
to my judgement — Oh, what force has the wickedness
which even yet is persevering in their breasts !

How often have they been crushed already by myself
in a reply, which, by their most shameless approaches
to me, they have deservedly brought upon themselves.
Surely, if they had kept this before their eyes, they would
never have ventured on this appeal of theirs. They ask
judgement from me, who am myself waiting for the judge
ment of Christ.4 For I declare — as is true — that the
judgement of Bishops ought to be looked upon as if the
Lord Himself were sitting in Judgement.5 For it is not
lawful for them 6 to think or to judge in any other way,

1 mera ( = umningled, pure). Du Pin suggests vera.

2 manifesto, luce claret.

3 comperi (i.e. by your letter to me from Aries).

4 meum indicium postulant, qui ipse indicium Christi expecto.
Famous words. Cf. Optatus i, 23.

5 dico enim, ut se veritas habet, sacerdotum indicium ita debet
haberi, ac si Dominus rest dens iudicet.

6 i.e. the Bishops.

APPENDIX— V 397

excepting as they have been taught by the teaching of
Christ.1 Why then, as I have said with truth, do wicked
men seek the devil's services ? They search after worldly
things, deserting those which are heavenly.2 Oh, mad daring
of their rage ! They have made an appeal, as is done in
the lawsuits of the pagans.3 For pagans are accustomed
sometimes to escape from the lower courts where justice
may be obtained speedily, and through the authority of
higher tribunals to have recourse to an appeal. What
of those shirkers of the law 4 who refuse the judgement
of Heaven, and have thought fit to ask for mine ? 5
Do they thus think of Christ the Saviour ? Behold, they
are now 'Betrayers.' Behold, without any need for
disputatious examination, of their own accord they have
themselves betrayed their wicked deeds. How can they,
who have leapt savagely upon God Himself, feel as men
should feel ?

But, my dearest Brothers, although this wickedness
has been discovered in them, nevertheless do you, who
follow the way 6 of the Lord the Saviour, show patience,
and still give them a choice to choose what they may
think well. And if you see that they persevere in the
same courses, do you go your way, and return to your
own Sees, and remember me, that our Saviour may always
have mercy on me. But I have directed my men to bring
these wicked deceivers of religion to my court that they
may live there, and there survey for themselves what
is worse than death.7 I have also sent a suitable letter

1 nisi quod Christi magisterio sunt edocti.

2 perquirunt saecularia, velinquentes caelestia.

3 Cf. Optatus i, 25.

4 detractores legis.

5 The pagans appealed from the lower courts to the higher, the
Donatists from the higher to the lower, from the ecclesiastical to
the civil, from the judgement of Heaven (of Bishops) to that of
earth (the Emperor's). 6 viam (cf. Acts ix, 2).

7 ibi sibi mortem peius pervideant. For mortem we must read
mortf,

398 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

to the prefect who is my viceroy in Africa, enjoining him,
that, as often as he finds any instances of this madness,
he is to send the guilty, forthwith, to my court, lest any
longer, beneath so great a shining of our God, such things
be done by them, as may provoke the greatest anger of
the Heavenly Providence.

May Almighty God keep you safe, my dearest Brothers,
through the ages, in answer to my prayers and yours.

APPENDIX— VI

EPISTOLA CONSTANTINI IMPERATORIS
AD EPISCOPOS PARTIS DONATI
A.D. 315

INTRODUCTION

ST. AUGUSTINE informs us (Ep. xliii, 20) that, in accordance
with what we read in this letter, Constantine, after the
Council of Aries, commanded representatives of both
Catholics and Donatists to appear before him at Rome.
The Donatists complied, but on the appointed day Caecilian
failed to arrive. Constantine thereupon put off his judge
ment until a later date and directed that the Donatists
should be conducted under a safeguard to Milan. Some
of them, however, contrived to escape before Caecilian
arrived at Milan — to be vindicated a third time from the
charges which had been so persistently brought against
his good name.

400 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

CONSTANTINE AUGUSTUS TO THE DONATIST BISHOPS.

A few days ago I determined that, in accordance with
your demand, you should go back to Africa, so that there
the whole case, which you think lies against Caecilian,
should be tried by friends of mine whom I had chosen,
and reach a fitting conclusion. However, whilst I was
thinking it over for a long time, and duly turning the
matter over in my mind, I deemed it best, rather
than this — since I know that some of your party are full
of turbulence and obstinately refuse to regard the right
judgement and the statement of the complete truth,
and that for this reason it would perhaps happen, that if
the case were tried in Africa it would be determined,
not as is fitting, and as the demands of truth require,
but that through your exceedingly great obstinacy some
thing might easily result which would both be displeasing
to God in Heaven, and also would be exceedingly
detrimental to my good reputation, which I desire always
to preserve undiminished — that Caecilian should preferably
come here, as was first settled. Thus, as I have said, I have
determined, and I believe that, in compliance with my
letter, he will soon arrive. But I promise you, that if,
in his presence, you prove by your evidence anything
against him concerning even one accusation or evil deed,
I will regard this the same as though all your charges
were seen to be proved.

May Almighty God grant us perpetual safety !

APPENDIX— VII

EXEMPLUM EPISTOLAE PRAEFECTORUM PRAE-
TORIO AD CELSUM VICARIUM, QUA REMIT-
TUNTUR IN AFRICAM DONATISTAE GUI IN
GALLIAS VENERANT PROPTER CAUSSAM
CAECILIANI.

A.D. 315

INTRODUCTION

Du PIN dates this letter 316 ; but (though Ziwsa follows
him in printing it after the succeeding letter Perseverare
Menalium) this must be a mistake. The letter itself
concludes thus :

' Hilarus Princeps optulit IV Kal Maias, Triberos ' *

It is addressed to Celsus who had by April 316 given
place to Eumelius as Vicar of Africa. It was therefore
written in 315. It carries into execution Constantine's
permission, of which we have just read in the preceding
letter, to the Donatist Bishops to return to Africa after
the Council of Aries. Of itself it has no intrinsic
importance, but is of some interest in consequence of its
close connection with the document given by Optatus
(i, 23), containing the names of the obscure signatories
of the famous appeal to Constantine. Optatus records
the names of Lucianus, Dignus, Nasutius, Capito and
Fidentius. These all reappear in the document before
us, excepting Dignus, who perhaps had died at Aries.

1 Duchesne writes (op. cit. p. 24) : ' Triberos, et non Triberis
eomme dans les Editions.'

402 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

PETRONIUS ANNIANUS AND JULIANUS TO DOMITIUS CELSUS
THE VICAR OF AFRICA.

Since Lucian, Capito, Fidentius, Nasutius the Bishops,
and Mammarius the priest, who in accordance with the
divine precept of the Lord Constantine Maximus, the
unconquered, always august, had gone to Gaul with
other men of their Law,1 were commanded by his Majesty
to proceed to their own homes, we have, my brother, in
compliance with the command of the Eternity of our
most clement Lord, ordered for them a service of post-
horses, with suitable provisions,2 so far as the port of
Aries, from which they may set sail for Africa, a fact
which it is desirable that your Carefulness3 should learn
from this our letter.

We pray, my Brother, that the best of good fortune
may always attend you.

Given at Treves on April 28, by Hilary, the Magistrate.

1 Legis eius, i.e. Donatism, as contrasted with Lex Catholtca..

2 angarialem his cum annonana conpetentia . . . dedimus.
8 Sollertiam tuam.

APPENDIX— VIII

EPISTOLA CONSTANTINI IMPERATORIS
AD CELSUM VICARIUM AFRICAE

A.D. 315 OR 316

INTRODUCTION

THIS letter was written by Constantine during the interval
that elapsed between the appearance of the Donatists
at Rome and the judgement at Milan. It betrays con
siderable irritation even against Caecilian, due no doubt
to the fact that he had failed to obey the Emperor's
summons (given in a letter no longer extant) to Rome.
Constantine in this letter expresses a new determination—
which he failed to carry out— to go himself to Africa and
investigate the conditions on the spot. Since Constantine
mentions in this letter the ' flight ' of some of the Donatists
as having already taken place, it was not written before
September 315, when the Emperor left Rome ; on the
other hand it must have been written before Celsus was
succeeded as Vicar of Africa by Eumelius early in 316.
We are thus enabled to fix its date, as having been written
in the autumn of 315 or the winter of 315-316.

404 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

TO CELSUS, THE VICAR OF AFRICA '.

The latest despatches from your Lordship have informed
me how Menalius,1 a man whom madness long ago took
hold of, and the others who have departed from the truth
of God, and given themselves over to a most shameful
error, persevere in their course. You tell me m your
letter, my well-beloved Brother, that you have obeyed
my order with regard to the seditious in accordance with
their deserts, and have placed a check upon the tumult
which they were preparing. And now that they were
contemplating wicked deeds has become manifest from the
fact that, when I had determined to inquire most fully
between them and Caecilian, concerning the various
charges which they brought against him, they did their
best to withdraw from my presence by taking to flight.2
By this most disgraceful deed they acknowledged that
they were hastening to return to the things which they
both had done previously and are now persisting in doing.
But (since it is certain that no one ever gains an unmixed
advantage from his own misdeeds, even though punish
ment may be delayed for a little while), I have thought
well to command your Lordship that in the meantime
you should leave them alone,3 and understand that we
must temporise with them.4

But after you have read this letter, you should make
it plain both to Caecilian and to them, that when by the
Divine Goodness I come to Africa, I shall render it most

1 eum MenaUum. Probably the Menalius mentioned by Optatus
(i, 13) as having been present at the Council of Cirta.

2 The MS. has praesentia mea susceptam fugam subtmhere. This
seems impossible to translate, even though, with Ziwsa, we read
praesentiae meae. If, with Du Pin, we read suscepta fuga se
subtrahere, the sense becomes clear.

3 eosdem omittas.

4 dissimulandum super ipsos cognoscas.

APPENDIX— VIII 405

clear to all, both to Caecilian, and to those who are acting
against him, by reading a perfectly plain judgement, as
to what and what kind 1 of worship is to be given to the
Supreme God, and with what manner of service He is
pleased. Also, by diligent examination, I shall acquaint
myself to the full with the things which at the present
time some persons fancy they can keep dark through
the allurements 2 of their ignorant minds, and shall drag
them into the light. Those same persons who now stir
up the people in such a war as to bring it about that the
supreme God is not worshipped with the veneration that
is His due, I shall destroy and dash in pieces.3 And
since it is sufficiently clear that no one may hope to obtain
the honours of a martyr with that kind [of Martyrdom] 4
which is seen to be foreign to the truth of religion, and
is altogether unbecoming, I shall without any delay cause
those men whom I shall ascertain to have acted against
that which is right and against religion itself, and whom
I shall discover to have been guilty of violence 5 in their
worship, to undergo the destruction which they have
deserved by their madness and reckless obstinacy.

Wherefore, let them also know for certain what they
ought to do to secure full credence after they have invoked
their own salvation,6 since I am going most diligently
to search into the things which concern not merely the

1 quae et qualis.

2 inlecebris. The editors read in latebris.

3 perdam atque discutiam.

* posse beatitudines martyris eo genere conquirere. Duchesne
paraphrases thus (op. cit. p. 37) : ' II ne reculera pas devant la
rigueur, et ceux qui s'en trouveront mal ne devront pas s'attendre
a ce qu'on les regarde comme des martyres.'

5 The MS. reads violentiae ; Ziwsa reads violentes.

6 ad plenissimam fidem salute etiam teste invocata. The sense
seems to be that the clerics were to invoke their own salvation as
witness to their fullest fidelity or truthfulness. ' As they hoped
for salvation,' this was to be the Christian formula, as distinguished
from the old appeal to heathen deities, in confirmation of evidence.

4o6 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

people, but also those clerics who are in the first places,
and shall pass judgement in accordance with that which
is most clearly in the interests of truth and religion. I
shall also make these persons see what worship and what
kind of worship is to be given to the Divinity, for by no
means do I believe that I can in any way escape the greatest
guilt otherwise than by refusing to close my eyes to that
which is wicked. What can be done by me more in
accordance with my constant practice,1 and the very
office of a Prince, than, after having driven away errors
and destroyed all rash opinions, to bring it about that all
men should show forth true religion and simplicity in
concord, and to render to Almighty God the worship which
is His due ?

1 pro institute meot

APPENDIX—IX

EPISTOLA CONSTANTINI IMPERATORIS
AD EPISCOPOS ET PLEBEM AFRICAE,
UT DONATISTAS TOLERENT

A.D. 321

INTRODUCTION

THIS letter speaks for itself. It seems to be contempora
neous with the Rescript of Verinus (May 5, 321). Its
object is to inform the Catholics of Africa that the Govern
ment had changed its plan of dealing with the recalcitrant
Donatists. Rigorous measures were to be abandoned,
and toleration granted, in the hope of attaining good
results in the end. With regard to this new determination
Duchesne writes as follows (op. cit. p. 28) :

' This toleration, in face of the fanaticism, of the audacity
and the violence of the schismatics, was in reality an abandon
ment. Without doubt the Emperor exhorts the Catholic
Bishops to endure with patience the wrongs inflicted upon
them by the Donatists ; he also makes reparation, up to a
certain point, for the material damage caused by these
sectaries, but this does not make it less true that he tolerates
them. In thus granting them toleration, he goes back upon
his much more decided attitude anterior to the Rescript of
321 and allows the judgement to fall into abeyance, which
he had himself given against Donatus and in favour of
Caecilian.'

408 ;ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

LETTER OF CONSTANTINE ON TOLERATION TO BE
GRANTED TO THE DONATISTS.

Constantine Augustus to all the Bishops in Africa
and to the people of the Catholic Church. You know right
well that, as Faith required, so far as Prudence permitted,
as much as a single-minded intention l could prevail, I
have endeavoured by every effort of kindly government to
secure that, in accordance with the prescriptions of our
law, the Peace of the most holy Brotherhood,2 whose
grace the supreme God has poured into the hearts of His
servants, should, through complete concord, be preserved
secure. But whereas the provisions that we have made
have not prevailed to subdue the obstinate violence of
crime, which has been implanted in the breasts of certain
men — few though they be — and whereas some favour is
still shown to this wickedness of theirs, so that they would
not on any account suffer a place in which they were
proud to have sinned 3 to be extorted from them, we
must see to it, that as all this evil affects a few, it may be,
through the mercy of Almighty God, mitigated for the
people. For we ought to hope for a remedy, from that
source to which all good desires and deeds are referred.4
But, until the Heavenly medicine shows itself, our designs
must be moderated so far as to act with patience, and
whatever in their insolence they attempt or carry out,
in accordance with their habitual wantonness — all this
we must endure with the strength which comes from
tranquillity. In no way let wrong be returned to wrong,

1 punt as,

2 Pax ilia sanctissimae fraternitatis. (The Catholic Church.)

* i.e. the basilicas, in which they were proud (gauderent) to
have sinned by their schism.

4 quo omnia bona vota et facta refenmtur. Quo is an emendation
for cum of the MS.

APPENDIX— IX 409

for it is the mark of a fool to snatch at that vengeance
which we ought to leave to God, especially since our
faith ought to lead us to trust that whatever we may
endure from the madness of men of this kind, will avail
before God for the grace of martyrdom. For what is it,
to overcome in this world in the Name of God, excepting
to endure with an unshaken heart the untamed savagery
of men who harass the people of the Law of Peace ? But,
if you will give yourselves loyally to this affair, you will
speedily bring it about that, by the favour of God on
high, these men, who are making themselves the standard-
bearers of this most miserable strife, may all come to
recognise, as their laws 1 or customs 2 fall into decay,3
that they ought not, through the persuasion of a few,
to give themselves over to perish in everlasting death,4
when they might, through the grace of repentance, be
made whole again, having corrected their errors, for
everlasting life.

Fare you well, by your common prayer, for ever, by
God's favour, dearest brethren.5

1 institutis. 2 moribus. 8 languescentibus.

* leto. The MS. has laeto.

4 Valete voto communi per saecula, iubente Deo, fratres carissimi !

APPENDIX— X

RESCRIPTUM CONSTANTINI AD EPISCOPOS
NUMIDAS

HAERETICI TULERUNT BASILICAS A CATHOLICIS UT AD
ALIAM BASILICAM FACIENDAM SIBI LOCUM VEL DOMUM
EIS DENT.

A.D. 330

INTRODUCTION

IN this Rescript Constantine provides that, as the Donatists
refused to give back to Catholics their basilicas — amongst
which was one that he had himself built for their use —
the Donatists should, lest worse things befall, be left in
undisturbed possession of their ill-gotten goods, and
that a new Church should be built, again at his expense,
to provide for the religious needs of Catholics. He also
states that he had ordered that certain exemptions, relative
to the curia and munera personalia, of which the Donatists
had succeeded by their intrigues in depriving Catholic
clerics of lower degree, should be restored to them, according
to a custom which was already ancient.

Duchesne has shown (op. cit. pp. 28, 29) that certain
passages in this letter are in even verbal accord with the
prescriptions of Constantine in his letter to the Consular
of Numidia still preserved in a law of the Theodosian
Code.

He prints them as follows in parallel columns :

APPENDIX— X

411

Letter to the Numidian Bishops. Theodosian Code, xvi,

a i

Ad consularem quoque scribi
mandavi Numidiae ut ipse in
eiusdem ecclesiae fabricatione in
omnibus sanctimoniam vestram
iuvaret.

Lectores etiam Ecclesiae
Catholicae et hypodiacones,
reliquos quoque [qui] instinctu
memoratorum quibusdam pro
moribus ad munera vel ad de-
curionatum vocati sunt, iuxta
sta[tu]tum legis meae1 ad nullum
munus statui evocandos. Sed
et eos qui ducti sunt haereticorum
instinctu iussimus protinus moles-
tis perfunctionibus absolvi.

Data non. febr., Serdica.

Imp. Constantinus
Valentino consular!
Numidiae.

Lectores divinorum
apicum et hypodiaconi
ceterique clerici qui per
iniuriam haereticorum
ad curiam de vocati
sunt absolvantur ; et
de cetero ad simili-
tudinem Orientis

minime ad curias de-
vocentur sed immuni-
tate plenissima poti-
antur.

Data non. febr.,
Serdica.

Constantine evidently was as good as his word. He
dated, and no doubt despatched, his letters on the same
day to the Numidian Bishops and his Prefect in Africa.
Would that Princes had always thus faithfully kept their
promises to the Church.

1 Cod. Theod. xvi, ii, i, 2 ; cf. Eusebius, H.E. x, 7.

412 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST^THE DONATISTS

RESCRIPT OF CONSTANTINE TO THE BISHOPS OF
NUMIDIA.

Constantine the supreme Victor and always triumphant
Emperor, to Zenuzius, Gallicus, Victorinus, Sperantius,
Januarius, Felix, Crescentius, Pontius, Victor, Babbertius,
Donatus, Bishops.

Since this is certainly the Will of the Supreme God,
who is the Author of this world and its Father, (through
whose goodness we enjoy life, look up to heaven, and
rejoice in the society of our fellow-men), that the whole
human race should agree together and be joined in a
certain affectionate union by, as it were, a mutual embrace,
it is not doubtful that heresies and schism have come from
the devil, who is the head of wickedness. Therefore,
there is no room to doubt that whatever heretics do, is
done through his prompting who has taken possession
of their senses, minds and thoughts. For, when he has
reduced men of this character beneath his power, he rules
them in every sort of fashion. And what good thing can
be done by a man who is insane, unbelieving, irreligious,
profane, opposed to God, an enemy of the Holy Church,
who (departing from God, the Holy, the True, the Just,
the Supreme, and the Lord of all, from Him who has
given us life and preserved us in this world — having
bestowed upon us breath for the life which we enjoy, and
willed us to have, that which is His own x — and has made
all things perfect by His Will) runs on the downward
path to the side of the devil ? But, inasmuch as the
soul which has once been possessed by the Evil One — for
it must needs do the works of its teacher — does those
things which are opposed to equity and justice, it follows
that they who have been possessed by the devil yield
themselves to his falsehood and wickedness. Moreover,

1 qui nos id quod suum esse voluit. These last words are clearly
corrupt. I have translated, emending esse to est habere.

APPENDIX— X 413

it is not to be wondered at l that the wicked depart from
the good, for thus has it been rightly laid down in the
proverb, ' Like flock with like together.' 2 It must needs
be that those who have been stained with the evil of an
impious mind should depart from our fellowship. For,
as Scripture says, the wicked man brings forth wicked
things from a wicked treasure,3 but the good man brings
forth good from good. But since (as we have said)
heretics and schismatics, who, deserting good and follow
ing after evil, do the things that are displeasing to God,
are proved to cling to the devil, who is their father, most
rightly and wisely has your Gravity 4 acted in accordance
with the holy precepts of the Faith, by abstaining from
contending with their perversity, and giving them the
use of that which they claim for themselves, though they
have no right to it, and it does not belong to them, lest —
so great is their wicked and shameless perversity — they
might even break out into tumults, and stir up men like
themselves at their crowded meetings, and thus a state
of sedition might be produced, which could not be allayed.
For their criminal purpose always requires them to do
the works of the devil. Therefore, since the Bishops
of God overcome them, together with their father him
self,5 by patience, let those who are the worshippers of
the Supreme God obtain glory for themselves, but these
others condemnation and condign punishments. In fact,
may the Judgement of the Supreme God become the
more imposing and appear 8 the more just from this, that
He bears with them in calmness, and His patience con
demns all the deeds which have come from them, enduring
them for a while, for God indeed has declared that He is
the Avenger of all. So when vengeance is reserved to
God, the enemy is punished the more severely. And

1 mirandum est. The MS. has mivatum est.
z Cf. Cicero, Cato m. 3, 7. 3 Cf. Matthew vii, 17, 18.

4 Gravitas vestra. 5 cum ipso suo patre (i.e. the devil).

6 ex hoc quippe maius existat. For existat Du Pin reads exstat.

414 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

I have now been informed that you, the servants of God,
have done this willingly, and I have rejoiced that you
demand no punishment upon the impious and wicked,
the sacrilegious and profane, the perfidious and irreligious,
upon those who displease God and are the enemies of the
Church, but rather ask that they should be pardoned.
This is to know God truly and thoroughly, this is to walk
in the way of His Commandments, this is to believe with
happiness, this is to think with truth, this is to under
stand that when the enemies of the Church are spared in
this world, the greater punishment is laid up against
them for hereafter.

I have learnt by the receipt of the letter of your Wisdom
and Dignity, that the heretics or schismatics, with their
accustomed wickedness, determined to seize the basilicas
belonging to the Catholic Church, which I had ordered
to be built in the City of Constantine,1 and that, though
they had been often warned, both by us and by our judges
at our command, to give up what was not theirs, they
have refused to do so, but that you, imitating the Patience
of the most high God, with a calm mind relinquish to
their wickedness what is yours, and ask instead for another
site for yourselves in exchange, namely the Custom House.
This petition of yours I gladly welcomed, according to
my custom, and straightway sent a suitable letter to the
accountant,2 commanding him to see that our Custom
House should be passed over, with all its rights, to the
ownership of the Catholic Church. I have given you
this with ready liberality, and have ordered it to be at
once delivered to you. I have also commanded a basilica
to be built on that spot at the Imperial expense, and have
directed letters to be written to the Consular of Numidia,3

1 In Constantino, civitate. Cirta had only recently received its
new name. 2 raiionalem*

3 ad Consularem Numidiae. Consularis is one who has been
consul ; consequently ' consularis Numidiae ' = governor of
Numidia, as he was not technically ' proconsul ' but prefect.

APPENDIX— X 415

telling him to be of assistance to your Holiness in all
things which concern the building of this Church. I
have also decreed, in accordance with my Statute law,
that the lectors and subdeacons 1 of the Catholic Church,
and any others who, by the command of the above-
mentioned, have been summoned in consequence of their
fitness, to public offices, or to the decurionship, should
be free from all public obligations 2 ; also we have provided
that those who at the instigation of heretics had been
summoned, should forthwith be set free from disagreeable
duties.3 For the rest I have also ordered that the law
which I have made concerning Catholic ecclesiastics be
observed. All these things have been written out at
length, as this letter testifies, in order that they may be
made known to your patience. And indeed, oh that the
heretics or schismatics would at length provide for their
own salvation, and that, having wiped away the darkness
from their eyes, they would open them to the vision of
true light, and that they would depart from the devil,
and, however late, would flee to God, who is One and
True, and the Judge of all mankind. But, since it is
clear that they are remaining in their malice, and wish
to die in their crimes, our warning and former careful
exhortation is enough for them. For if they had been
willing to obey our commands, they would have been
freed from all evil. Let us, however, my Brothers, follow
after the things that are ours, let us walk in the way of
the Commandments, let us by good actions keep the
Divine Precepts, let us free our life from errors and with
the help of the mercy of God, let us direct it along the
right path.

Given on February 5 at Sardica.

DEO GRATIAS.

hypodiacones. * Cf. Appendix — xvi, p. 430.

3 molestis perfwnctionibws absohri.

APPENDIX— XI
ACTA CONCILII CIRTENSIS

A.D. 305

INTRODUCTION

THIS document seems to have been joined in the Appendix
to the Gesta apud Zenophilum. Its substance was given
by St. Optatus (i, 14) who added :

' Sicut scripta Nundinarii tune diaconi testantur et vetus-
tas membranarum testimonium perhibet, quas dubitantibus
proferre poterimus ; harum namque plenitudinem rerum in
novissima parte istorum libellorum ad implendam fidem
adiunximus.'

It was produced by Catholics at the Conference of
Carthage (Coll. iii, 351-355, 387-400, 408-432, 452-470 ;
Brev. Coll. iii, xv, xvii). St. Augustine quotes it in
several passages (con. Cresc. iii, 26, 27 ; Ep. xliii, 3 ; c. Litt.
Petil. i, 21 ; de unico Baptismo xvii ; ad Donat. post coll.
xiv (Cirtense concilium, si tamen concilium dicendum
est, in quo vix undecim vel duodecim Episcopi fuerunt) ;
con. Gaud, i, 47 &c.). I give a translation of the document
as it is to be found almost in its entirety in con. Cresc^
iii, 27.

APPENDIX— XI 417

ACTS OF THE COUNCIL OF CIRTA

When Diocletian was Consul for the eighth and
Maximinian for the seventh time, on March 4, after
Secundus, Bishop of Tigisis and Primate, had taken his
seat in the house of Urbanus Donatus,1 he said :

' Let us first see that all are duly qualified to act, and
thus we shall be able to consecrate a Bishop.'

Secundus said to Donatus of Mascula :

' It is alleged that you have been guilty of Betrayal.'

Donatus replied :

' You know how Florus searched for me to make me
offer incense, and God did not deliver me into his hands,
my brother ; but since God has pardoned me, so do you
too leave me to God.'

Secundus said :

' What then are we to do about the Martyrs ? They
have been crowned because they did not " betray." '

Donatus said :

' Send me to God. Before Him I will render my
account.'

Secundus said :

' Come to one side.'

Secundus said to Marinus of the Waters of Tibilis :

' It is alleged that you too were guilty of Betrayal.'

Marinus answered :

' I did give papers to Pollus. My codices are safe.'

Secundus said :

' Stand on one side.'

Secundus said to Donatus of Calama :

' It is alleged that you were guilty of Betrayal/

Donatus answered :

' I gave them medical treatises.'

1 Cf. Optatus i, 14 : ' Quia basilicae necdum fuerunt restitutae,
in domum Urban! Carisi consederunt.'

4i8 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Secundus said :

' Stand on one side.'

And in another place :

Secundus said to Victor of Rustica :

' It is alleged that you " betrayed " four Gospels.'

Victor answered :

' Valentianus was Curator. He forced me to throw
them into the fire. I knew that they were lost. Pardon
me this fault and God will also pardon me.'

Secundus said :

' Stand on one side.'

And in another place :

Secundus said to Purpurius of Limata :

' It is alleged that you killed at Milevis the two sons
of your sister.'

Purpurius answered :

' Do you think that I am frightened of you, like the
rest ? What have you done, who were forced by the
Curator and the soldiers to give up the Scriptures ? How
did you come to be set free by them, unless you surrendered
something, or ordered it to be surrendered ? For they did
not let you go at random. Yes, I did kill, and I intend
now to kill those who act against me. So do not now
provoke me to say anything more. You know that I
interfere with nobody's affairs.'

Secundus the Less said to Secundus his uncle :

' Do you hear what he is saying against you ? He is
ready to leave, and make a schism ; and not only he,
but also all those who are accused by you. I know that
they intend to abandon you, and pronounce sentence
against you. You will then remain alone, a heretic.
So what business is it of yours what any one has done ?
He has to render an account to God.'

Secundus said to Felix of Rotarium, [to Nabor] of
Centurio and Victor of Garba :

' What do you think ? '

APPENDIX— XI 419

They answered :

' They have God, to whom they must render their
account.'

Secundus said :

' You know and God knows. Sit down.'

And they all answered :

1 Thanks be to God.'

2 E 2

APPENDIX— XII

RELATIO ANULINI PROCONSULIS AD
IMPERATOREM

A.D. 313

INTRODUCTION

WE have here a report of the Pro-Consul Anulinus to
Constantine, informing him that he had duly sent his
letter to Caecilian, but that a few days afterwards he had
been approached by a deputation, followed by a crowd of
people, requesting him to transmit two documents — one
sealed, the other open— to the Emperor (cf. Opt. i, 22).

This document was produced in its entirety by the
Catholics at the Carthage Conference (Gesta Coll. Carthag.
diei iii, ccxv-ccxx, cccxvi, cf. Brev. iii, 8, 24). It has
also been reproduced by St. Augustine (Ep. Ixxxviii, 2,
from which source I have made my translation) and is
often mentioned by him (con. Crescon. iii, 67 ; De Un.
Bapt. 28 ; Ep. Ixxxix, 3 ; cxxviii, 2 ; cxxiv, 9, &c.).

APPENDIX— XII 421

REPORT OF ANULINUS TO THE EMPEROR.

My duty1 has caused me, amongst the acts of my
insignificance,2 to send your Majesty's heavenly letter, 3
after I had received and venerated it,4 to Caecilian and
his subordinate clerics 5 ; at the same time I exhorted
them that — now that Unity has been effected with general
consent, since through the condescension of your Majesty
their liberty was seen to be in every respect completely
secure, and the Catholic Church was protected — they
should apply themselves to the service of their holy Law
and to the things of God, with due reverence. But a few
days afterwards I was approached by certain persons,
followed by a great throng of the populace, who held that
Caecilian must be opposed, and presented me in my official
capacity 6 with two documents, one bound in leather
and sealed, the other a libdlus unsealed, and demanded
with insistence that I should send them to the sacred and
venerable Court of your Highness. This my littleness
has been careful to do (preserving Caecilian in his position),
and I have forwarded their Acts, that your Majesty may
be in a position to determine everything. I have sent
the two libelli, of which the one bound in leather has
been endorsed Libellus Ecclesiae Catholicae criminum
Caeciliani traditus a parte Maiorini.1 Also the one without
a seal together with that in leather. Given on the
fifteenth of April at Carthage when Constantine Augustus
was for the third time Consul.

1 devotio vnea, 2 parvitatis meae.

3 scripta caelestia. This letter has been preserved by Eusebius
(x, 7). I subjoin a translation (Appendix xvi).
* accept a atque adorata.

5 his qui sub eodem agunt, quique clerici appellantuv. This is
taken from Constantino's own ' heavenly letter.'

6 obtulerunt dicationi meae. Cf. Edictum Marcellini (Migne, P.L.
ix. 819, 820) : ' epistulis ad meant dicationem currentibus,' and

qui dicationi meae de publicis praestolantur ofnciis.'
' Cf. p. 43, n.3.

APPENDIX— XIII
EPISTOLA CONSTANTINI AD MELCHIADEM

A.D. 313
INTRODUCTION

IN this letter Constantine calls upon Pope Melchiades (or
Miltiades) to judge the question lately raised in Africa
between Caecilian and his accusers. The Emperor encloses
for the Pope's information the two documents which (as we
have just read) he had lately received from Anulinus (cf.
Optatus, i, 22 ; Augustine, Ep. xliii, 5 ; Ep. xciii, 13 ; de
Unit, xviii ; con. Crescon. iii, 61). This letter has been
preserved for us by Eusebius (H.E. x, 5) 'E^aSr? TOIOVTOI.
It was produced by the Catholics at the Conference in
411 (Coll. iii, 319 ; Brev. iii, 12).

APPENDIX XIII 423

LETTER OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE IN WHICH HE
PROVIDES FOR THE CASE CONCERNING CAECILIAN TO
BE JUDGED AT ROME.

Constantine Augustus to Miltiades Bishop of Rome
and to Marcus.1 Whereas several documents 2 have
been sent to me from Anulinus, the most illustrious Pro-
Consul of Africa, in which it is shown that Caecilian,
Bishop of Carthage, has been accused on many grounds
by certain of his fellow- Bishops 3 in Africa — since it appears
to me a very grievous 4 thing that in those Provinces
which Divine Providence has freely committed to my
fidelity, where there is a vast population, the multitude
(as it were divided into twain) are found to be deteriorating,
and the Bishops, amongst others, are at variance — I have
resolved that this Caecilian with ten of the Bishops who
accuse him and ten others whom he himself may choose
to aid in his defence, shall sail to Rome ; that there in your
presence and in the presence of Reticius, Maternus and
Marinus your fellow-Bishops, whom I have ordered to
hasten to Rome for this purpose, this case may be deter
mined in the manner which you know to be in agreement
with the most holy Law.5 Moreover, that you may
derive the fullest knowledge of all this business, I have
added copies of the documents which were sent me by
Anulinus, to my letters to your above-mentioned fellow-
Bishops. After you have perused these your Gravity 6

1 Kal MdpKcp. Baronius suspected that the text was here corrupt
and suggested ifpapxy- But Marcus was probably a priest in Rome
high in the counsels of Miltiades — very likely the Marcus who suc
ceeded Silvester as Pope (Opt. ii, 3). WldpKy may, however, be a
mistake for Mepo/fAe/, -the Bishop of Milan, who was present at the
Roman Council (Opt. i, 23).

2 x»PTO"> called chartae in Coll. Carthag. (diei iii, cccvi).

3 Ko\\-f)yu)V avrov. 4 /3apu ff<f>odpa.
5 i.e. of the Catholic Church ; cf. p. 333, n. 2:

424 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

will carefully consider in what way this controversy may
be most accurately investigated and justly decided.
And it will not have escaped your careful observation
that so great is my reverence for the most holy Catholic
Church that I am absolutely unwilling that any schism
or dissension should be left in any place by you.1 My
most esteemed one,2 may the Divinity of the Most High
God preserve you for many years.

APPENDIX— XIV

CONSTANTINI EPISTOLA AD PROBIANUM,

QUA INGENTIUM AD COMITATUM MITTI

IUBET

A.D. 315

INTRODUCTION

THIS letter was produced by the Donatists at the Con
ference in 411 (Coll. Carthag. Diei iii, dlvi, dlviii ; Brev.
iii, 41, 42). St. Augustine gives us the complete text
(con. Crescon. iii, Ixx. Cf. Ep. Ixxxviii, 4 ; ad Donat. 19).

426 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

LETTER OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE TO PROBIANUS
THE PRO-CONSUL OF AFRICA.

The Emperors Constantine Maximus and Valerius
Licinius Caesars to Probianus the Pro-Consul of Africa.

Your predecessor Aelianus at a time when he was
discharging the duties of that most worthy man, Verus
our Vicar, in consequence of his ill-health, thought well
(and with reason), amongst other matters, to investigate
and determine the business — that is, the charges — brought
by envy against Caecilian, a Bishop of the Catholic Church.
For after he had secured the presence of Superius the
centurion, and Caecilianus the Magistrate of Aptunga,
and Saturninus * who was formerly Curator, and Calidius 2
the younger Curator, and Solon a public official of that
city, he gave them a fair hearing — so that when it was
alleged as an objection against Caecilian that he had
been raised to the Episcopate by Felix, who was accused
of the Betrayal and burning of the Divine Scriptures, the
innocence of Felix was proved. Finally, when Maximus
charged Ingentius, a decurion of Ziqua, with having falsified
a letter of Caecilianus formerly Duovir, we have learned
from the Acts of the Proceedings that this Ingentius was
prepared for torture, and was only saved by his statement
that he was a decurion of Ziqua.3 Wherefore it is our
will that you should despatch this Ingentius, under suitable
escort, to my Court of Constantine Augustus,4 so that it
may be made quite clear, in the presence and hearing of
those who are concerned with this affair, and for some
time past have been incessantly appealing to me, that it is
to no purpose that they show their malice against Caecilian

1 The Claudius (or Calidius) Saturianus of Optatus (i, 27).
" The Calidius Gratianus of Optatus (id.).

3 Cf. p. 343-

4 ad comitatum meum Constantini Augtisti.

APPENDIX— XIV 427

the Bishop and have been pleased to bestir themselves
against him with violence. So will it be brought to pass
that these disputes having ceased, as is right, the people
may without any dissension serve their religion 1 with the
reverence that is its due.

1 veligioni propriae cum debita veneratione deserviat.

APPENDIX— XV

A.D. 312

WE have here a letter of the Emperor Constantine to
the Pro-Consul Anulinus, commanding that restitution
should be made of their property to the Catholic
churches. It has been preserved by Eusebius (H.E. x, 5).

APPENDIX— XV 429

AN IMPERIAL DECREE

Hail, Anulinus, most highly esteemed by us ! After
this manner is our benevolence, that we will that those
things which by just title belong to others should not only
remain unmolested, but also, when necessary, be restored,
most esteemed Anulinus ! Wherefore we decree that,
so soon as you have received this letter, if any of those
things which belong to the Catholic Church of the Christians,
in the several cities or other places, are held by Decurions
or by any others, these you shall cause immediately to
be restored to their churches. For we have determined
that whatever these same churches formerly possessed
shall be restored in accordance with justice. When
therefore your Fidelity l has understood that this decree
of our orders is most clear, you will make haste to see
that everything, whether gardens or houses, or whatever
else belongs to these churches, be restored to them as soon
as may be possible — that we may learn that you have
attended to, and most carefully carried into execution,
this our decree. Farewell, my most esteemed and beloved
Anulinus.

1 f) Kadotriwo-is r> <TT],

APPENDIX— XVI

A.D. 312 OR 313

LETTER OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE TO THE PRO
CONSUL ANULINUS, CONCERNING THE IMMUNITY OF
CLERICS BELONGING TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AT
CARTHAGE, WHERE CAECILIAN WAS BISHOP.

This letter has been preserved byEusebius (H.E. x, 7).

APPENDIX XVI 431

A COPY OF A LETTER OF THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, IN

WHICH HE ORDERS THAT ALL THOSE HOLDING OFFICE

IN THE CHURCHES SHOULD BE EXEMPT FROM ALL
CIVIL DUTIES.

Hail, Anulinus, most highly esteemed by us ! Whereas
from many incidents it is abundantly clear that whenever
the religion, by which the supreme reverence due to the
Divine Majesty is guarded, has been held in contempt,
the greatest perils have overtaken the State, and whereas
this religion, when it has been duly accepted and protected,
has, through the goodness of God, conferred the highest
prosperity on the Roman name and has given their chief
benefits to all human affairs — We have resolved that those
men, who with due piety and careful observance of this
Law, have given their service to the divine worship, should
receive the recompence for their labours, O most esteemed
Anulinus !

Wherefore it is our will that those men called Clerics,
who within the Province entrusted to your care serve
this most holy religion in the Catholic Church, over
which Caecilian presides, shall be held totally exempt from
all public offices, to the end that they may not, through
some mistake or sacrilegious deviation, be drawn away
from the service which is due to God Most High ; but
may be free to serve their own Law without any
disturbance. For through their showing supreme reverence
to God, the very greatest advantage will accrue to the
Commonwealth. Farewell, my most esteemed and beloved
Anulinus !

INDEX

AARON, 256

Acts of the Angels, the, 88

Aelianus, the proconsul, 53,

328, 331-345

Aelius Paulinus, 54 n. I, 384 n. i
Africa, divisions of, 28 n. 2, 33

n. i (cf. 379 n. i)
Altar, 84, 158, 172, 246-252, 255
,, linen covering of, 251
,, sacrifice of, 37, 71, 90, 91,

149, 173-174. I76
,, set in festal array, 173
,, the seat of the Body of

Christ, 247
,, wooden, in the fourth

century, 36 n. 4, 247
Amalarius of Metz, 109 n. 3
Ambrose, St., and Catholica, 79

n. 2

Angelus, 64 n. 3, 65, 78-81
Antichrists, 30, 31
Antiochus, 309
Antipopes, Donatist, 69-72
Anulinus, 157
Anulus, 19, 25
Arius, 191
Asmodeus, 123
Augustine, St., and —

the Apostolic See, 34 n. 3,

47 n. 2, 67 n. 2
Baptism, 13 n. i, 19 n. 5,

88 n. 4

the Catholic Church, 50 n. 5,
52 n. i, 59 «. 3, 212 n. 2,
280 n. 3

the Chair of Peter, 21 n. i
Christ's Itoria, 3 n. 2

Augustine, St., and —

the Circumcellions, 143 «. 5,

146 ». 3

St. Cyprian, 21 n. i
Cypriani Mensa, 145 n. 3
Diapsalma, 183 w. 4
Donatus of Black Huts,

43 n. 3, 45 n. 3
the Donatists, i n. i, 2 n. 2,

6 w. 2, 8 w. 4
the Evil of schism, 39 w. 4,

40 ». 4
the Pelagians, 90 w. 3, 103

W. 2

Peter, St., 86 n. 6
Preaching, 176 n. 2 (cf. 187

salt, 296 n. 3
Seth, 277 n. 4

BAPTISM, 10-13, 12 M. 2, 13 n.
i, 16, 21, 88, 89,
123, 199-202, 206,
208-211, 213-245
,, the Form of, 224
,, of John, 223-227

Baptisms, False, 24

Baruch, 302

Bernard, St., and the name
Israel, 118 n. 2

Bethsaida, Pool of, 123

Bordeaux, Pilgrim of, 126 n. 3

Bossuet, 284 w. 3

Botrus, 32

Branch theory, 85, 161

Bryce, Lord, 132 n. 5

Burchard of Worms, 109 n. 3

2 F

434 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

CAECILIAN, the Catholic Bishop
of Carthage, 20, 29, 31-35,
37, 45, 49, 50, 53, etc.

Caecilianus, the magistrate, 54,

331-345
Cain, 178

' Captains of the Saints,' the, 144
Carisius Urbanus, 28
Carthage, Conference of, 8 n. 4,

386 n. 5

„ See of, 33 w. I
Casaubon, 19 n. 5, 28 n. 7
Cataphrygae, 16
Cathedra Cypriani, 20 n. 4, 21
,, Maiorini, 30, 69
,, Pestilentiae, 72-75
,, Pctri, 20, 21 M. I, 64-

74, 78, 86, 294

Catholic Church prior to all

schisms, 294

,, ,, the meaning

of, 50 w- 5
,, Name, 59
Catholicism, 23

,, an argument on

behalf of, 294 w. 3
Celestius, 32
Celsus, 401-406
Cerdon, 22 n. 3
Chalice, the Sacred, 31, 252
Chapman, Dom John, O.S.B.,
xxxi, 3 n. 2, 43 n. 3, 45 n. 3,
362 n. 2

Chiliasm, 244 n. 2, 290
Chrism, the holy, 100, 149, 289-

293
Chrysostom, St. John, and Free

Will, 103 M. 2

Church, the, Catholic, 9, 25, 50-
52, 59-64, 86, 87, 91,
139, 203, 283
„ our Mother, 23, 89, 164,

187

,, the paradise of God, 89
,, the only Bride of

Christ, 91

the Holy, 23, 24, 57
,, the One, 2 n. 3, 10, 14,
18,30, 57,90-92,165,
203

Circumcellions, the, 143-147,

163 n. i
Circumcision, 10-12, 204-206,

210
Clement of Alexandria, St., and

the Catholic Church, 50 M. 5
Collegium Episcopate, 8 n. I
Commandments and Counsels,

257, 258

Conference of Carthage, 45 n. 3
Confirmation, 163 n. I, 197 n. 3,

293

Constans, 94 n. 4, 131
Constantino the Great, 30, 42,

43, 44, 49, 53, 95,

138

,, Chlorus, 43 n. 2
Council of Aries, 44 n. i, 388-

393, 399

„ Nicaea, 191

„ Rome under Pope

Miltiades, 45, 47
n. 2, 48, 49
,, (Donatist) of Carth-

„ age, 38

,, ,, of Cirta, 27, 416

„ „ of Theneste, 97,

266

Creed, Athanasian, the, 4 n. 3
Cyprian, St., 37

,, ,, and Baptism out

side the Church,
221 n. 3

,, ,, and the Cathedra

Petri,66n. i, 68
n. i
,, „ and the Novatians,

90 n. 3
„ and St. Peter, 67

n. i

„ „ and the Seven

Churches, 79 n.
2

DAMASUS, St., Pope, 69 n. i

Daniel, 140-142, 157

David, King, 113

Decius, 157

Degradation, rite of, 109 n. 3

INDEX

435

Delphinus, 350 n. 5

Denny, Rev. Edward, 73 n. 3,

284 n. 3

Dignatio, 187 n. 6
Diocletian, 157
Docetae, 22 «. 5
Donatists, their argument, 88w.i
,, the brethren of Catho
lics, i, 2 w. 2, 6-8,
181

,, their inconsistency,
250-252, 262-265
,, their pride, 103-105
,, their sinfulness, 183-

*95

,, their savagery, 96-99,

IOI, IO2, 107

,, their schism, origin

of, 34
Donatus of Bagaia, 121, 143,

146
,, of Black Huts, 43 n. 3,

45 w. 3

,, of Calama, 27
,, of Mascula, 27, 38
„ the Great, 43 n. 3, 45,
49, 53, 121, 131-
142

Duchesne, Mgr., 43 n. 3, 54 w. i,
109 w. 3, 384 n. i, 388, 392 n. 4,
393,401 n. 1,407,410
Du Pin, 43 n. 3, 284 n. 3

EBION, 190

Elijah, 154-156, 177, 249

Elisha, 241

Endowments of the Church, 18,
20, 64 n. 3, 77, 78, 84 n. 5,
85,87 n. i, 88, 89, 91, 216

Esdras, 309

Eucharist, Holy, profanation of,
99, 108

Eunomius and Olimpius, 50

Exorcism, Baptismal, 90 n. 3,

193

Exorcisms of the Donatists, 5
w. 5, 106, 108, 193, 215

FAITH, the one, i w. i, 198,

208, 215, 216, 218
,, the virtue of, 89, 237-240
,, the profession of, 89
Felix of Autumna, 33, 35, 54-56,

328-345

Felix of Idicra, 101
Felix the deacon, 31
Flesh, the, of Christ, 10, 14-16,

22, 199

Flood, the, 10-12, 204-206, 210
Florus, 157, 158

Fons signatus, 19, 25, 64 w. 3, 84
Fortunatus, 350 n. 5.

GILDAS, 109 n. 3
Gregory, the Prefect, 132

HARNACK, Professor, vi, viii,

xxv n. i, 23 n. 3, 69 n. 7, 220

n. i
Hastings' Dictionary of the

Bible, 118 w. 2
Hatch, Professor, 109 n. 3
Heresy, the nature of, i n. i
Heretics, 7, 16, 17, 19-25, 31, 5^,

198

„ Churches of, 18
Hilary, St., and salt, 296 n. 3
Honorius, the Emperor, 8 n. 4
Hortus conclusus, 19, 20, 24, 25

(cf. 89)

IGNATIUS the Martyr, St., and

the Catholic Church, 50 n. 5
Innocent the First,Pope, 262 n. 2
Innocent the Third, Pope, and
unction in Ordination, logw. 3
' Invincible Ignorance,' 66
Irenaeus, St., and list of Popes,
68 n. 2

436 ST. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

JAMNES and Mambres, 271, 294-

297
Jerome, St., on Diapsalma, 183

n. 4

,, ,, on the distinction

between schism

and heresy, i n. i

„ ,, on Elam and the

Elamites,i3ow.i

,, ,, on the Montenses,

72 n. 5
,, ,, on the Name

Israel, n8w. 2
,, ,, on preaching, 176

n. 2
,, ,, on Victorinus, 16

n. i

John the Baptist, 223, 225-228
Julian the Apostate, 95, 96, 265
n. 3

KORAH, Dathan, and Abiram,
39, 251

Martyrs, false, 31 n. 2
Maternus, Bishop of Cologne,

Maxentius, 32

Maximian, 157

Memoriae Sanctorum, 70 n. 3

Menalius, 27

Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage,

32, 33

Merinus of Tibilis, 27
Merocles, Bishop of Milan, 45,

423 n. i

Milevis (Mileum), 27
Miltiades (or Melchiades), Pope,

45, 47, 68
Montanists, 72
Morin, Dom Germain, O.S.B.,

3 n. 2
Moses, 154-156, 299

N A AM AN, 240-242

Nabor of Centurio, 29
Nicholas I, Pope, and unction

in Ordination, 109 n. 3
Novatians, the, 90 n. 3
Nundinarius, 28, 347-381

LAW, the Catholic, 333, 395
Leo the Great, St., and Baptism,

88 n. 6

Libellus, 358 n. 3
Litter ae Formatae, 69 n. 3
Lot's wife, 170
Lucilla, 31, 33, 34 n. i, 37, 348,

377

MACARIUS and persecution, 98,

121, 131, 143, 153-157, 158,

167, 173, 175-179
Majorinus, Donatist Bishop of

Carthage, 20, 21, 29, 30, 37,

43 n. 3, 296

Marcion, 16, 22 n. 3, 190, 216
Marinus, Bishop of Aries, 45
Marriage Feast, the, 242

Oleum Peccatoris, n n. 3, 14
Operarii Unitatis, 13 n. 2, 150,
163, 219 n. 5

PARABLE of the Sower, 280-283
Paradise, the, of God, 25
Parmenian, 8, 10, 13, 21, 24, 26,

29, 83, etc.

Patripassians, the, 207
Paul, St., the Apostle, 160, 257
Peace (id est Catholic Unity),
Christ's parting gift to
Christians, 3 (cf. 37 n. i),
74-77, 95, 149, 152, 160,
174, 182, 185, 296, 297
Pelagians, the, 90 n. 3

INDEX

437

Penances imposed by Donatists
upon Catholics, 5, in, 112,
118, 119, 257

Persecution under Diocletian, 26
Persona Ecclesiae, 86 n. 6
Peter, St., 213, 286-289

alone received the
Keys, 19, 284 w. 3
„ and the Keys, 24

first Bishop of Rome,

66-68
head of the Apostles,

„ received the Keys
after his sin, 283-
289

Petilianus, 350 n. 5
Phineas, 151, 153-155, I77
Photinus, 191
Polycarp, St., and the Catholic

Church, 50 n. 5
Popes, list of, 68-69
Praxeas, 16, 22 n. 4, 207
Probianus, 54 n. I
Proditores, 356 n. I
Purpurius of Limata, 27, 28, 36,

347, 359, 379
Pusey, Dr., 284 n. 3

QUINIONS, 357 M. i

R
REAL Presence, the, 100, 246,

248, 252
Re-Baptism, 5

Reticius, Bishop of Autun, 45
Rigorism in the African Church,

293 n. 2

Rome, list of Bishops of, 68
,, had more than forty Basi
licas in fourth century, 72
,, St. Peter, first Bishop
of, 66
Root of the Mother Church, 23

SABELLIUS, 16
Sacerdotium, 26 n. 4, 86

Sacraments, the minister of the,

209 n. 3, 216,

217,219, 222 n. 5,

227, 230-237

,, the, 88, 90, 208,

216, 275
, , and heretics, 1 7 n . i ,

18 n. 4

,, Catholic, 10, 22 n. 6

„ lawful, 1 8

,, true, 25
Sacrifice of a sinner, n, 14

,, of the Altar, 71, 90, 91,

149

Sacrilege against the Sacrament
of the Altar, 99, 108,
252
„ against the Chair of

Peter, 73

„ against the Holy
Chrism, 100 (cf. 109
*;3)

Satan, a thief, 7
Saul, King, 113

Schism, the Donatist, 25, 27,

29,30,34W.i,39

„ „ evil of, 4 n. 4, 25

n. 6, 39-42, 4°

»• 4, I55

,, ,, nature of, i M.I, 3 7
Schismatics, n, 14, 17, 20-22, 25
Scriptures, the Holy, 208, 261,

3°5, 3<>7

,, Witness of, 212

Secundus of Tigisis, 28, 29, 34,

347

,, the younger, 29
Semi-Pelagians, the, 103 n. 2
Seth, 277 n. 4
Seven Brothers, the, 309

,, Churches, the, 79 n. 2,

80, 93, 254
Shrines of the Apostles, the, 70,

71. 93, 152
Sigillum, 64 n. 3, 84
Silvanus, 346-381
Siricius, Pope, 69 n. I
Sparrow-Simpson, Rev. W.,B.D.,

17 n. i, 22 n. 2, 45 n. 3, 67

n. 2, 100 n. 2, 3 ; 217 «. 7

438 SI. OPTATUS AGAINST THE DONATISTS

Speretiu* the Duovir, 328

Spiritus, 64 n. 3, 81-83

Stone, Dr. Darwell, 51 n. (c),

69 n. 5
Swift, Dean, 211 n. 5

TERTULLIAN, called a Champion
of the Catholic
Church, 16 n. 3
,, and Baptism, 88

n. 4, 209 n. 7
and the Keys,
24 n. 4
,, and the Ring, 19

n. 5

Testament, Christ's, 211-212
Tixeront, 103 n. 2, 197 n. 3
Tobias, the patriarch, 123
Tractoria, 386 n. 5
Traditio, n n. 2, 25
Traditores, 11-14, 2I> 25> 29> 37»

92, 158
Trinity, the Holy, 209, 210, 217,

218, 224, 233
Turificati, 158 n. 4

Umbilicus, 4 w. 3, 84, 219 n. 3

Unction, n n. 3, 183

,, at Baptism, 197
,, at Ordination of priests
in the fourth century,
109 n. 3 (cf. 113)
Unity, the Catholic, 161 (cf. 283,
289), 336

VALENTINUS, 16, 22 n. 5, 190,

199

Valerian, 157
Veils of destruction, 5

,, of nuns, 257 n. 3, 259, 261
Verinus, 407
Victor of Garba, 29

„ of Rusicca, 27
Victorinus of Pettau, 16
Vine, the, 20
Virginity, voluntary, 257-261

WATER, holy, 262 «. 7
Wiseman, Cardinal, xii

ZENOPHILUS, 346-381
Zephyrinus, Pope, 16

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rational basis to our assent to propositions so fundamental as those
stating our own existence, and the reality of the extra-Ego. Then he
passes to the discussion of some familiar theistic arguments. This
pure philosophy is put in a form which may appeal even to minds not
versed in such speculations ... A noticeable quality of the whole
book is that it is written with that sympathy combined with convic
tion which is so important, psychologically, in eliciting our assent to
conclusions in controverted matter.'

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. — ' We have read the book throughout with
the greatest possible interest, and have great pleasure in recommend
ing it to every intelligent person who takes an interest in religion, be
he lay or cleric, infidel, agnostic, Protestant or Catholic.'

The Athenceum. — ' This book is devoted to a summary and critical examina
tion of the evidences for the truth of Christianity.'

The Universe. — ' It is alive and alert all through ; there is no dullness, still
less is there any darkness. The author has gone forward with a
broad mind boldly to face every doubt, difficulty or dilemma that can,
and does, arise, like shadows in the minds of those who are seeking
for Truth.'

R. & T. WASHBOURNE, LTD., 10 PlT0ENRDN0SfTEEc ROW

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Full text of "The work of St. Optatus, bishop of Milevis, against the Donatists, with appendix"

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